Newfound Feelings
by Danni1989
Summary: Haley and Nathan have been best friends since they were young. Now in their teens, neither know how to tell the other that they are in love with each other. Will they find the courage to confess their feelings? Will their friendship survive? Naley On Hiatus. Possibily Permanently.
1. Chapter 1

now i shouldnt be writing another story right now. But i found this sitting on my computer, and decided to post it. Hope everyone enjoys it. It is sort of based on the episode in season 2 where Nathan dreams about him being friends with Haley and Lucas growing up with Dan. But i added my own little changes. Read and Review.

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Nathan walked into the café that night after yet another amazing night with Haley. He saw his mom sitting by the counter balancing the till as she did every night since he was born.

"Hey mom. How was your night?" he asked kissing her on the cheek.

"Good. Your's?" Karen asked.

"Any night I get to spend with Haley is wonderful." he told his mom, thinking of the girl it was so obvious that he was in love with.

"You really need to tell her how you feel. It's so obvious how you feel about her. And you have for years." Karen stated smiling at her son.

"I don't want things to change between us. I don't want to reveal something like that and have her not feel the same way. I couldn't handle that. At least this way I have her, she's my best friend and has been since we could walk. I don't want that to change." Nathan said adamantly.

"Sometimes change is a good thing." Karen said.

"Yeah kinda like you and Keith huh mom." Nathan pointed out.

"Me and Keith are different. There's too much working against us to give a relationship a try. You and Haley are meant to be. You two are going to be married some day." Karen said to her son.

"I don't want to change. Me and Haley are perfect the way we are." Nathan said again.

"I know. But you remember what you told me when you were ten about your relationship with Haley?" Karen asked.

"Yeah. I said I would marry her someday." Nathan answered.

"You said you would marry her someday, and I could tell even then that you meant it. I think you still mean it today. I remember you came in the house to complain about how hard Dan was pushing you, and how he was yelling at you because you missed a free throw. But you said that Haley marched over to him and gave him a piece of your mind. You said that her yelling at Dan made you fall in love with her. I don't even know if you knew what falling in love meant back then, but I still knew your feelings were real, and I still see that today. You and Haley James are going to be married someday." Karen said putting a hand on her sons back.

The next morning Nathan drove Haley to school as he did every morning, and they talked animatedly the whole drive there.

"So what are we doing after school?" Haley asked.

"I don't know. I think its your turn to choose." Nathan stated smiling at his best friend.

"oh right. Because last night I spent three hours getting my ass kicked at NBA live. It's definitely my turn to choose." Haley said laughing.

"Do your worst Miss James." he said smiling.

"I say we go to our spot and watch movies. We haven't done that in a while." Haley stated.

"That doesn't sound so bad. You know I'm really disappointed in you, I would have thought you would have something evil planned since I made you play three hours of NBA live with me." Nathan said.

"I get to choose the movies, and I think I feel like watching chick flicks all night long." Haley grinned wickedly at Nathan.

"Ugh. You are evil." Nathan muttered.

"You know you love me." she laughed back before picking up her bag and heading into the school.

"You have no idea how true that is." Nathan muttered to himself before walking over to sit with his other friends.

Haley walked into her class, she had always loved being the first one in the room, and coming to class early. It helped her prepare for the class and check any homework that she may have had the night before. Recently it also gave her an excuse to be away from Nathan when being around him became too hard. After being around him for a while her heart would start beating like crazy, to the extent where she was sure he could hear it. She was hopelessly in love with him, and he could never know. She didn't want their friendship to change, it was too important to her. Tonight was going to be a challenge thought, watching movies in the dark with him for hours alone. When the bell finally rang and people started filing through the doors Haley was finally able to quiet her thoughts. Haley scowled when Lucas Scott, Nathan's half brother walked through the door. He had taken on the role recently as Nathan's tormenter. Lucas hated that Nathan was better at basketball than him, and he hated that when it came to basketball, Dan Scott preferred Nathan. But for the rest of their lives, Dan preferred Lucas. Lucas hated not having everything.

"Good morning Haley. Just tell Nathan to watch his back. The team is mine, and just because he gets more opportunities than me, doesn't mean he's better than me. Just tell him to watch his back." Lucas threatened as he walked by her.

"Nathan already proved that he's better than you. Remember he beat you one on one several times. You cant beat him. The entire school knows that Nathan is the better player, and that makes the team his, he is the captain after all. Oh and by the way, you should watch your back, because if something ever happens to Nathan and I suspect you had something to do with it, I will track you down. And I will exact my revenge. You will leave Nathan alone. He hasn't done nothing to you." Haley said icily.

"I will do what I want, when I want to do it. Its not your place to tell me what I can and cant do. This is my school, don't you forget that." Lucas said before making his way to his seat.

"ass." Haley muttered before turning to the front of the room, and waiting for Mr Allan to finally show up.

When lunch finally rolled around Haley met Nathan at their usual table.

"So how have your classes been so far?" Nathan asked.

"Well lets see, I had another altercation with Lucas. And I so far have no homework tonight." she said.

"wait you had a fight with Lucas?" he asked shocked.

"Yeah. He told me to tell you to watch your back. I told him that if he messed with you, he has to mess with me, and I will end him." Haley explained.

"Wow. It's like we're ten all over again. But really thanks Hales. You always stand up for me." Nathan said simply.

"It's my job. I am your best friend. I will always protect you." Haley said compassionately. Haley glared across the quad as Lucas and his group all sat down at their table. Seeing who Haley was staring at, he adopted a glare similar to the one Haley was sporting.

"Just leave it Hales. They aren't worth our time." Nathan said placing his hand over hers.

"Okay. I just… I hate him." Haley said forcing the words out of her mouth.

"Did Haley James just say the word hate?" Nathan asked shocked to hear the word come out of her mouth.

"Yeah. it's the only way to describe how I feel about him. Hate." she explained. They ate the rest of their lunch in a comfortable silence until the bell rang.

"Ok I guess I'll see you after school. Let's see if I can go through the rest of the day without hitting Lucas, considering he is in my next three classes." Haley said wincing.

"Just ignore him Hales." Nathan said hugging her before they went their separate ways. Haley watched him walk away, and sighed, it was getting harder and harder by the minute to hide her feelings for him.

Nathan sighed while walking away, and glanced back to take a glance at Haley's retreating form. It was getting harder and harder by the second to ignore his feelings for her. Nathan didn't know what to do regarding his feelings for Haley. He couldn't reveal his feelings because in the end that would just ruin everything. He needed to move on, and he knew just the way to do it. Nathan walked into his class to take his usual seat beside Teresa.

"Hey Nate. How's it going?" she asked him.

"good. It'll even be better if you go out with me tonight." he said flirting.

"Really?" she asked excited.

"Yeah. So you want to?" he asked huskily.

"Definitely" she said growing more excited.

"Good. I'll see you tonight." Nathan said before turning around to face the front of the class.

At the end of the day, Haley made her way to Nathan's car as she did every other day. She was contemplating which movies to choose for the movie night tonight. She had it narrowed down to "A walk to remember" and "The Notebook" when she saw him walking towards her.

"So I have our movies narrowed down to "A walk to Remember and "the Notebook. Which would you prefer?" she asked.

"Um Hales. I have to cancel tonight. I have way too much homework and my mom wont let me go out. Lets reschedule." he lied, hating how formal he sounded.

"Nathan Scott has too much homework?" Haley asked.

"Yeah, and a test in Biology tomorrow that I completely forgot about." he lied smoothly.

"That sounds like you.." Haley agreed.

"I'm sorry Hales, I was really looking forward to a night with you again. Although not so much for the chick flicks." Nathan said feeling really bad for lying to Haley.

"It's fine Nate. We'll make it up soon." Haley assured him.

"We always do." Nathan said smiling, and trying to ease himself of his guilt.

Later that night, as Nathan was getting ready to go pick up Teresa, he opened the door to find her standing on his front step.

"Hey, I thought I'd meet you here, instead of you driving all the way to my house." Teresa said.

"Oh. Well lets get out of here." he said gesturing to his car parked on the street.

"Great." she said following him to his car. They went for dinner, then went to a movie, and Nathan noted that she wasn't nearly as much fun as Haley. He couldn't believe he missed their movie night for the lame conversation and lack of fun that came with being with Teresa. After their movie, Nathan drove them back to his house, so Teresa could get her car. He walked Teresa to her car . Unexpectedly, she leaned in and kissed him passionately. He returned the kiss hoping to ease some of the guilt the was eating him up inside. However, he didn't realize that Haley was watching from a few feet away with her heart breaking.


	2. Chapter 2

Yay i got the next chapter. I have discovered that i really dislike writing sad Naley. I much prefer happy Naley. I hope it doesnt show to much in my writing. Hope you enjoy it. Let me know if you like it. Enjoy! :)

PS i own nothing.

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Haley walked into her house, with tears streaming down her face. She didn't know why she was so upset, she knew that Nathan didn't feel the same. But it still hurt. Maybe it was the fact that he lied to her. Yes, that had to be it. He had chosen to go out with Teresa instead of hanging out with her. Maybe their friendship didn't mean as much to him as she thought it did, or as much as it did to her. She tried to sneak past her parents her were cuddled up on the couch watching TV, as they did every night, but was unsuccessful.

"Haley is that you? That was fast." Lydia looked behind her seeing her daughter hovering by the stairs.

"Oh yeah. Nathan was already done his homework." Haley replied, her voice breaking at the end, signifying that she was lying.

"Haley are you crying?" Lydia asked concerned, and Jimmy glanced behind him at his daughter, worried.

"It's okay. I'm fine." she said quickly before fleeing up the stars to her room. Her parents looked at each other, knowing that something was seriously wrong. Haley never acted like that when there wasn't something wrong.

"I'll take care of it." Lydia said softly, before getting up and walking up the stairs to Haley's room.

Haley laid on her bed and sobbed, feeling as if nothing in her life was what it seemed. Maybe that was what it always felt like when you're heart got broken? Haley heard a knock on her door, and her mother walked in shutting the door behind her.

"Haley-bop are you okay?" Lydia asked concerned.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm fine mom. It's just I'm tired and not feeling well. And we both know that's not a good combination, so that's where the tears came from." Haley lied to her mother.

"Are you sure sweetie?" Lydia asked

"Yeah I'm fine. I promise. I should just get some sleep." she said trying to insert some enthusiasm into her voice.

"Okay baby. Just know I'm here if you decide you want to talk about what's really wrong." Lydia said before hugging her daughter, and walking back downstairs. Once she was alone again Haley shut off the light and cried herself to sleep.

"Is she alright?" Jimmy asked worried.

"whatever it is, she's not ready to talk about it. I don't know what happened." Lydia said.

"Well she is a teenager. There are many things it could be. Is there anything we can do?" he asked.

"Not really. Like you said she's a teenager. She'll talk to her best friends before she'll talk to us." Lydia said.

"Why don't we ask Nathan tomorrow when he comes to pick Haley up for school. He is her best friend." Jimmy said.

"Yeah that's a really good idea. We'll ask him tomorrow morning." Lydia agreed, finally reassured that her daughter would be okay.

Nathan walked into his house, to find his mom sitting at the table waiting up for him.

"So how was your evening?" she asked staring at him.

"Okay. Why?" he asked.

"Because you weren't out with Haley. Who were you with?" Karen asked.

"Teresa, a girl at school. I took her out." Nathan explained.

"You what? I know how you feel about Haley! How could you play with that other girls feelings like that?" she yelled.

"Because I don't want my friendship with Haley to change. This is the only way to ensure that doesn't happen. She means too much to me." Nathan explained.

"Fine. But I still think you two are going to end up together." Karen said smiling at her son, while feeling relieved that things weren't quite so complicated when she was growing up.

The next morning, Haley awoke and realized that she couldn't face Nathan today. She needed some time to figure out what she was planning to do. If she was being honest, she wasn't sure if their friendship was worth all the pain she was going through. Reluctantly she pulled herself out of bed and walked downstairs, where her parents were sitting in the kitchen drinking their morning coffee.

"Mom, Dad, I'm really not feeling well today, so I don't think I can go to school today." Haley said.

"Oh. Okay sweetie. Just take today and rest." Lydia said glancing at her daughter concerned, knowing that whatever happened last night, was still weighing heavily on her mind. Haley gave her parents a half hearted smile and walked back upstairs to her room, where she laid down and went back to sleep.

Nathan showed up a little while later, and just walked into the James's kitchen as he did every other day since he was 6.

"Good morning." he called.

"Good morning Nathan." Lydia called back. Nathan walked into the kitchen to find Jimmy and Lydia sitting across from each other at the kitchen table. There were many times that he wished he would wake up to a image like that in the mornings. Parents that were still in love, and together. But for that dream he had Haley's parents.

"So where's Hales?" Nathan asked.

"She's not going to school today." Lydia said.

"Haley? Not going to school? What happened?" Nathan asked automatically concerned.

"My guess is as good as your's. Actually your's is probably better. You're her best friend. Do you know what could possibly have her so upset. There is something wrong with her, and she wont tell me anything. Do you think you could talk to her?" Lydia begged her daughter's best friend.

"Of course. Is she in her room?" he asked.

"Yes." Lydia said. Nathan nodded and walked upstairs to Haley's room. He opened the door slightly to find her laying in bed sleeping. He smiled slightly, and left the room so she could get her rest.

"She's sleeping. I'll try back later." he said before grabbing his bag.

"Thank you Nathan. We'll keep an eye on her today." Jimmy said knowing that Nathan would worry about her all day.

"I'll see you guys later." he said before walking out the door and to his car. Worrying about Haley the whole way to school.

Once he got to school, Teresa immediately walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Hey. I had a great time last night. Want to do it again, say tonight?" she asked.

"Sorry. I have other things to take care of tonight." Nathan said.

"What could be more important than me?" she wondered.

"My best friend needs me." he said.

"That nerdy girl. You're ditching me, for the nerd?" Teresa asked disbelieving.

"She is my best friend, and the most important person in my life. So yeah I am ditching you for Haley." Nathan said angrily, already upset because of whatever Haley was going through.

Haley awoke a few hours later, to her mother sitting on the edge of her bed, stroking her face.

"Are you ready to talk about it yet?" Lydia asked.

"No." Haley answered.

"You should talk to someone baby. You should tell Nathan. You two are always there for each other." Lydia said thinking that would brighten her up.

"I don't want to talk to Nathan. I don't want to talk to anyone. Please just leave it alone. I'll get over it on my own." she begged, not wanting to delve into her broken heart.

"Okay baby. Just let me know if you want to talk, okay?" she said before getting up and leaving the room. Jimmy was waiting in the kitchen when Lydia walked back downstairs.

"Any luck, in getting our youngest to open up?" he asked concerned.

"No. She's retreated behind some wall, that not even Nathan will be able to break down." Lydia said with a sigh.

"Not even Nathan? Nathan can get through to her better than anyone." Jimmy said disbelieving.

"She doesn't want to see anyone. We have to respect her wishes. " Lydia said resigned.

"Okay. If you think that's best." Jimmy said, hoping that Haley snaps out of whatever funk she's in soon. He misses the happy girl that his daughter usually is.

After school, Nathan got in his car and drove to Haley's. Not having her by his side today was hell. He had to put up with Lucas by himself. He had to put up with Teresa's relentless attacks all day. Everything was harder when Haley wasn't around. He was determined to make everything better for her. And to destroy whoever made her cry. Like the morning Nathan walked into the house and went to sit beside Jimmy and Lydia on the couch.

"is she any better this afternoon?" Nathan asked concern coating his voice.

"No. We've barely seen her. She hasn't left her room. I'm really worried about her." Jimmy said.

"Can I go see her?" Nathan asked, feeling weird just planning to go upstairs to their daughters bedroom, even though he had been doing since they were ten.

"She's asked for no one to go see her. She just wants to be alone, which is not like her at all. I am so worried about my baby girl." Lydia said.

"I'm gonna find out who hurt her. And when I do…" he said before Jimmy cut him off.

"Just work on Haley for now. She doesn't want to see anyone, so why don't you text her tonight. Try to get her to open up. We just need for her to talk to someone." Jimmy said worried.

"Yeah. When I look in her eyes, in those times I have seen her recently. It's like her hearts been broken into a thousand pieces. Something must have happened that broke her heart in a thousand pieces. She'll need you to get over it." Lydia said. Nathan nodded.

"I better get going. It'll be a good night to hang with my mom, and I'll text Haley tonight, to see if she replies." he said before leaving the house again. Immediately when he got in the house, he took his phone and texted Haley.

"Hales, you gotta text me. Your parents are worried. So am I." he sent her. Fifteen minutes later there was still no response.

"Haley. Come on, tell me what's wrong. Who hurt you? I'm so worried about you." he sent. Still no response. By this time Nathan was panicking. Nathan picked up the phone and called Haley's parents.

"Hello?" Jimmy said when he answered the phone.

"Hey, its Nathan. She's not answering any of my texts." Nathan said panicked.

"It's okay Nathan. She left her room. She went out. You should go find her." Jimmy suggested.

"Okay. Thanks." Nathan said hanging up the phone.

Nathan ran to his car, intent on finding Haley. He checked everywhere he could think of. The Rivercourt, the Market Street Docks, but she wasn't there. Suddenly he stopped the car and muttered "Idiot." to himself. He then turned the car, to make his way to their spot. Nathan pulled up in front of Karen's Café a few minutes later, and used his key to let himself in. Knowing she was there, he walked up the stairs to get to the roof. He seen her sitting in one of the two chairs set up in their area, and he walked over to sit in the one next to hers. He touched her arm when he sat down, and she turned to look at him.

"I was worried about you today." he stated.

"Oh. Well I'm fine now." she lied, for she knew she would never be fine.

"Are you sure? You can talk to me, Hales." he said.

"I know I can. You know, we are best friends aren't we? I mean we can tell each other anything cant we?" she asked testing him.

"Of course. What's up Hales?" Nathan asked.

"It's okay. I'm fine now. I just had a bit of an emotional breakdown then. I feel perfect now. What do you want to do tonight? I figured we could make up that movie night now." she said trying to give him a real smile.

"That sounds perfect." he said, happy that Haley seemed to be perfect again. Haley watched him, as he put "A walk to Remember" in the DVD player that she had pulled out of the cupboard on the roof, as her heart continued to break, knowing that he would never feel the same way as she did about him. She had decided earlier that evening that she would try to be okay with it, because as much as she was in love with him, she needed him as her friend that much also. Nathan took his seat next to her as the movie started. However he didn't notice though when she slid her chair a little further away from his, trying to alleviate some of the feelings that she felt when he was close to her. All they were, were friends, and that is how it would stay. Only friends. Forever.


	3. Chapter 3

i am not happy with this chapter. i really hated doing this, but it needed to be done. dont hate me too much. let me know what you think.

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"We are just friends. We are just friends." Haley chanted to herself that morning while she waited for Nathan to come pick her up. She was hoping to convince herself now, that there was no hope for him ever having feelings for her. But yet she couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face when he pulled up in front of her house.

"See you later mom and dad." she called before she walked outside to where Nathan was waiting.

"Bye Haley. Have a good day at school." they called after her.

"Good morning." she said when she got in his car as she did most mornings.

"Good morning." he said trying to stop the rush of happiness that flooded through him when she sat next to him in the car. She turned her head to look out the window in an effort to block the things she was thinking from her mind.

"We are just friends. We are just friends." she said in her head, still trying to convince herself.

Nathan looked at her and frowned slightly. She was still slightly off, he could tell. She wasn't the same girl that he had known even a few days earlier. Something was definitely wrong, and as much as he wanted to know what was wrong, he knew he needed to keep his distance. He needed to get over this unreasonable crush he had on his best friend. By this time they were at the school, and you could cut the tension in the car with a knife. Pretty much when he got the car shut off, Haley was out of the car like a bullet. It was only once she realized what she did, that she slowed down to wait for him.

"In a hurry Hales?" he asked.

"Um yeah. I missed some school, and I want to get caught up." she lied smoothly.

"Oh." was all he seen before he saw Teresa skip up to him.

"Hey baby." she said wrapping her arms around his neck. He left his hands by his side, not able to find the urge to touch her at all, considering the real object of his affections was standing a couple feet away.

Haley watched Teresa skip up to Nathan and throw her arms around him. And she felt a sharp pain in the vicinity of her heart, and knew that no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't pretend that she was okay with this. Instead she turned and walked into the school.

"What's up with her?" Teresa asked rudely.

"I actually don't know. I should try to catch up with her." Nathan said worried.

"I don't think so. I think you should kiss me." Teresa said tracing his lips with her finger.

"No. I have to find Haley, she's my best friend." Nathan said.

"You know, we haven't spent any time together sine our date, and that is really starting to bug me. I mean normally, when you're in a relationship with someone, you call them, and touch them, and kiss them. You haven't done any of that with me." she whined.

"Look I'm sorry Teresa. I'll make it up to you. I promise. It's just that right now I need to see what's up with Haley, she's been my best friend since we were really young, and that's important to me. I'll see you later?" he asked, knowing he needed to keep his relationship with her going because she was needed to help him get over Haley.

"Sure." she relented.

"Thank you. I'll see you later." he said before walking into the school. He wandered everywhere he thought that she might be, it she wasn't in any of those places. Nathan felt almost lost, he hated knowing that something was wrong, but not able to help her. This was the first time she hadn't come to him first when there was a problem with anything. That led Nathan to believe that the problem may actually be with him. He didn't know how he felt about that. It hurt enough not able to declare his feelings for her to the world. But not having her as his friend, would be unbearable. He couldn't survive that.

Haley sat in her classroom going through her missed assignments with her teacher. She saw Nathan walk by the classroom a couple times, clearly looking for someone. Part of her hoped that he was looking for her, but she found that unlikely now that he had a new cheerleader girlfriend. He didn't need her anymore, which was probably a good thing. Now she would hopefully be able to forget the feelings she had for him. Haley tried to focus her mind on Mr Anders but was having a hard time. Nathan kept on sneaking into her thoughts when she was supposed to be focusing on calculus.

"Haley are you alright?" Mr Anders asked.

"What? Oh yes. I'm fine." she said quickly.

"Are you sure? It's okay if we have to pick this up a little later." he mentioned.

"No I'm fine. I'm fine. Let's just do this now." she said turning her attention to the text book in front of her, banishing Nathan's thoughts from her head temporarily. Temporarily, that was the problem. She needed those particular thoughts banished from her head permanently. She needed to get over him, and so far nothing she had tried was working.

Haley went through all her classes, the same as she usually did. Except all her teachers were worried. All morning all she got were the usual "How are you dears?" or "are you feeling better now?" questions that she began dreading. She knew it was unusual for her to miss school, which caused all the faculty to worry. When the bell rang, she walked out to the table that she usually sat at with Nathan. She was happy that he was there alone, without Teresa, whom she was going to start referring to as "the whore." She knew that wasn't like her at all, but she officially hated Teresa. She hated her more than she hated Lucas, and that was a lot.

"Hey how was your morning?" Nathan asked when she took the seat on the opposite end of the table.

"Fine. Your's?" she asked, but was interrupted when Teresa brought her lunch over to sit with them. Haley looked away and focused on her lunch. Intent on ignoring "the whore" and Nathan all through the lunch hour. She had no interest in seeing him kiss her.

Nathan watched as Haley seemed intent on cutting her lunch into tiny little pieces, like she was trying hard to focus on something instead of what was going on in her mind. He noticed that she got all distant when Teresa sat down. He couldn't dwell on it too long, because Teresa was talking about something.

"Sorry. What did you say Teresa?" he asked.

"Oh. I was just saying how much I hate Mr Anders. He gave us two pages of homework tonight. I have much more important things to do with my time." she said whining.

"Hales, don't you have Mr Anders?" Nathan tried to include her in their conversation.

"Yeah. I like him. He really helped me this morning with the stuff I missed while I was gone." she said withdrawn.

"I guess that's how it is with the nerds of the school. I mean, nerds like all teachers." Teresa said laughing. Nathan said nothing, he hated Teresa for saying that.

"So having good grades in school makes me a nerd. But watching her for the past couple years jumping from bed to bed doesn't make you a slut?" Haley said before grabbing her bag and storming away from the table.

"Can you believe she just said that to me?" Teresa asked shocked.

"Yeah I can actually. You had no right to say that to her. I have to go." he said before standing up to walk the way the Haley headed.

Nathan ran after her. When he caught up to her, he grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him.

"What are you doing Nathan? Coming to defend your new girlfriend? Fine I'm sorry. Now go back to her." she said angrily.

"What is wrong with you today? You are distant and cold. You are not the girl that has been my best friend since we could walk." he said.

"You really don't know?" she said.

"I have no idea what's wrong. I mean other than you lashing out at Teresa. She has nothing to do with this. I have no idea what you have against her." he argued.

"You don't know. Well how about this. You know the night that you cancelled on me to do homework." she said sarcastically.

"Yeah. What about it?" he replied cautiously.

"I know you lied to me. I was coming over to help you with the homework since I was bored. And I see you kiss her by her car." Haley said softly, but with a coldness that he had never heard her use before.

" So I cant have a girlfriend?" he asked trying to ease the guilt. He had never had any intention of her seeing that. It was the last thing he had ever wanted.

"Just never mind Nathan. I have to go." she said tired of arguing with him.

"No not never mind. What is going on with you Haley? You have been different the past little while. Did something happen?" he asked worried.

"No. Nothing happened. And I don't see how you can ask me that. I mean I cant believe you still don't know what's going on. Everyone else knows. My parents. Your mom. But you are too blind to see it." she yelled tears falling freely now.

"What cant I see? Haley tell me." he demanded.

"That the kiss I saw, broke my heart into a thousand little pieces. That I cant stand Teresa for stealing you away. That I have been keeping this inside for such a long time, and its been threatening to explode for weeks." she cried. Nathan didn't know what to say. He couldn't say a word. Knowing now that Haley had felt the same way for him as he had for her was disorientating. He couldn't find the ability to talk.

"I don't think we should see each other for a while. I need to take some time to get over you. I'm sorry but we cant be friends anymore." she said sobbing before walking away. Nathan just stood there frozen as the woman he loved slowly walked out of his life.


	4. Chapter 4

yet another depressing Naley chaper. i really really dislike writing these. hope you enjoy reading it more than i enjoyed writing it. Read and review.

PS i own nothing.

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After his fight with Haley, Nathan walked back over to where Teresa was sitting.

"So what was that about?" she asked.

"Nothing." he answered.

"Well, if we're going to be together, you have to let me in" she told him squeezing his thigh.

"I cant. It was always Haley I told things to. And its my fault that I cant do that anymore." he told her.

"Ahhh so you finally kicked the nerd to the curb?" she asked him smirking.

"No. As a matter of fact, she kicked me to the curb." he told her, before walking away.

"Nathan don't walk away from me." she called after him.

"Look, I'll see you tomorrow. Right now, I cant be here anymore." he told her walking away. He walked out to his car, and hopped in, speeding away. He was driving towards the familiar road when he saw Haley walking. He pulled up beside her.

"Haley I'll take you home. Just get in the car." he asked her.

"No. I'll walk." she told him.

"Come on, just let me drive you home." he begged.

"Just don't Nathan. Please stop. Be both know that I need to get over you, and I cant do that if you're here. I meant what I said, we cant be friends anymore." she told him.

"So what, our 13 year friendship is just over?" he asked.

"Yeah. I should've known it wouldn't last forever. Nothing does." she said sadly before continuing to walk. Nathan watched her go, feeling defeated. He had never felt such a painful weight in his chest before. It was never this bad on all those days that his father would belittle him. It wasn't this bad when he thought that Haley would never love him. This was worse, losing the one person he had counted on would be in his life forever, was debilitating. This was a kind of pain that a normal person wouldn't be able to survive.

He continued his drive home and for the first time in his life he drove past Haley's house with no intention of stopping. He drove right home, and parked on the street. He was relieved that no one was home, it would give him time to deal with his grief.

Haley sobbed the whole way home. She already missed him so much. It was hard enough to lose someone you loved, but to lose your best friend at the same time, was unbearable. She wrapped her arms around herself, almost seeming to be holding herself together. Quietly she walked in the front door, hoping to avoid her parents.

"Haley bop is that you?" Lydia called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, its me mom." she said her voice breaking.

"Haley are you okay?" Lydia said walking out to where her daughter was standing with tears rolling down her face.

"No. Everything is ruined. Nothing will ever be okay again." she said sobbing, falling into her moms waiting arms. Lydia let her sob. She let her cry all her tears out. Haley's small frame shaking with the force of her sobs.

"Baby what happened? Do you want me to call Nathan?" she asked.

"No. Nathan and I aren't friends anymore. It just hurts" she said wiping the tears from her eyes.

"What happened?" Lydia asked.

"I fell in love with him, and he broke my heart by dating Teresa. He didn't know how I felt, but I called off the friendship because I need to get over him, and I cant do that if he's always there." she tried explaining.

"You called off a 13year friendship. You two have been friends since you were 3. That means something Haley bop." Lydia told her.

"It cant. Not anymore. You cant be friends with someone who doesn't feel the same way for you and you do for them." she said.

"It's okay sweetie. I'm sure the two of you will work it out sometime. You always do. This isn't the first time you've fought." she reminded her daughter.

"I know, but this time its different. There's no going back." she told her mom.

"Just have some faith. It'll get better." Lydia assured her daughter.

"Thanks mom, but I should get going. I have a shift at the café tonight, and I don't want to be late." she said standing up.

"Are you sure Hales? I'm sure Karen would be fine with it if you couldn't go in tonight." Lydia told her.

"I know she would be. But I need to do something. I need to be busy or else I will just think about Nathan all night." she said sadly.

"Okay. Why don't you take the car? That way you have a ride home." Lydia suggested.

"Thanks mom. You always make me feel a little bit better." she told her mom, hugging her tightly.

"Just know that you can tell me anything, sweetie. You know that." Lydia said brushing the hair off Haley's face.

"I'll see you tonight mom." Haley told her.

"Bye sweetie." she said.

Nathan sat at home on the couch looking at photo albums. His mom and Lydia had put together albums after albums of his and Haley's friendship through the years. 13 years was a long time, and he would never take one second of that time he spent with her back. He flipped through the pages until someone rang the doorbell. Reluctantly he got up and walked over to the door, seeing Skills standing there.

"Hey, the guys are all heading down to the Rivercourt to shoot around. Wanted to know if you wanted to come.' Skills asked.

"Nah, not tonight. I just want to hang here." Nathan said.

"Nate, you're one of my best friends right? Now tell me what's wrong." Skills instructed.

"Okay. Haley and I ended our 13 year friendship today at school. It's over, and I don't know what to do about it." Nathan confessed.

"That really sucks. It didn't take a rocket scientist to show that the two of you were in love with each other. You'll fix it." Skills assured him.

"No we wont. You didn't see her face. She confessed her feelings for me, at the same time she ended the friendship. I didn't get a chance to tell her how I feel." he told him.

"Well one day you might. Now let basketball heal that broken heart of yours." he said.

"Not tonight. How about a rain check?" he asked.

"For sure. I'll see you later Nate." he told him before walking away.

Haley sat in the café serving customers, and doing whatever extra work she could find so she didn't have to think about Nathan.

"Haley do you mind telling me what's wrong. Because if those counters get any cleaner we wont have to use plates." Karen told her.

"It'll save on the dishes we have to wash later." Haley said still scrubbing an invisible spot on the counter. Karen put her hand on top of Haley's, stilling it.

"What's wrong Haley?" Karen asked kindly.

"I ended mine and Nathan's friendship today. I couldn't live a lie anymore." she said sadly.

"Haley are you okay?" Karen asked putting her arm around the young girls shoulder.

"No. I don't think I ever will be. There is this pain in my heart that will never go away. It just hurts constantly." she said.

"What happened?" Karen asked.

"He started dating Teresa, and it broke my heart. I couldn't be around that anymore. I couldn't lie anymore." she said.

"Will you be okay to work tonight? You can go home if you want." Karen said.

"No I want to stay. It'll give me something else to do instead of sitting at home and crying." she said.

"Okay. But if you decide that you cant take anymore just close up the café and go home. You have my permission. But I should probably get going. I'll see you tomorrow." Karen said grabbing her coat and walking out. Haley stayed busy for a couple more hours, but the café died down around 7, and Haley just sat on a stool waiting for the appropriate time to close the café down.

Karen walked in the front door with her bag of groceries, and placed them on the kitchen table before going to track down her son. She found him in his room flipping through the albums.

"I heard about what happened." she stated from his doorway.

"Who told you?" he asked.

"Haley. She's really hurting Nathan." Karen said.

"It was her that ended everything. This is not my fault." he told her seriously.

"Its not your fault. You're the one that was too blind to see that she loved you the way you loved her. You were the one the got together with Teresa even though Haley felt that way for you. I don't see how you two couldn't see it. But everyone else could. You two are in love. And I just don't understand how you couldn't see the way she felt about you." Karen said shaking her head.

"I doesn't make sense for her to love me. I'm not good enough to be with her. She is this amazing person that everyone loves, and I am the star player of the Raven's. I don't deserve her." Nathan said.

"So you buried your feelings for her, and ignored the obvious ones Haley had for you." Karen surmised.

"Yes. She deserves someone much better than me." Nathan said.

"Haley chose you. Which means that despite what you think you do deserve her. Haley wanted you, and I think she still does." Karen told her son.

"She made it pretty clear today that she doesn't ever want to see me again." Nathan reminded his mom.

"I know that, but that's only because right now, she's hurt. Eventually that hurt should fade and maybe at the very least you can restart your friendship. Giving it a try is the least you can do after 13 years of being best friends." Karen said squeezing her sons shoulder.

"Thank you mom." he said.

"You're welcome." he replied before walking out of the bedroom. Nathan wasn't sure what to do, but he did know that right now his pride was too bruised to give anything a shot right away. Right now he was respect her wishes and leave her alone, but he knew eventually he would have to find the guts to talk to her. He also knew he needed to decide where he stood with Teresa, whether he wanted her or not.


	5. Chapter 5

here is a longer chapter hope you enjoy it. Thank you to all my readers and reviewers. You're reviews make my day. Read and review.

PS i own nothing.

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Three weeks later, Nathan still hadn't found the nerve to talk to Haley. It was before school and he was sitting with Teresa at their table. Used to be his and Haley's table. In the three weeks the love he had for her had never wavered. He kind of hoped that it would. At least then he wouldn't still be feeling like this. Like nothing in his world would ever be the same again.

"Earth to Nathan." Teresa called.

"What?" he asked snapping out of his reverie.

"Are you even listening to me?" she asked.

"Sorry I just have some things on my mind." he said.

"Really? Like that's any change from the past three weeks." she said scathingly.

"I just lost a thirteen year friendship. I have the right to be upset about it." he said forcefully.

"A thirteen year friendship. Nathan I don't believe that. You wouldn't be like this if you just lost a friendship. I think it was more." she said lowering her voice.

"It was more." he admitted.

"What was it?" she asked, hoping for him to make sense of his jumbled emotions.

"I was in love with her." he said reluctantly, as if saying it out loud made it even more real.

"Was or am?" she asked.

"Am. I think I will be forever." he told her guiltily.

"Then I guess you have your answer. You wont be better until you admit to her how you feel. You need to talk to her Nathan." she told him.

"I cant. Besides that would be wrong. I'm dating you remember." he told her trying to insert some enthusiasm into his voice.

"Not anymore. I am breaking up with you for your own good. You need Haley, and I am keeping you away from that. Don't give up on your true love." she told him before getting up and kissing his cheek.

"This is just great." Nathan thought to himself. Deciding against sitting there any longer he got up and walked towards the school. But he knew his day couldn't possibly begin to improve he walked until he was face to face with Lucas.

"So where has your little friend been recently. Kinda missed her yelling at me." Lucas said.

"She's not with me." Nathan answered avoiding the truth.

"Really. Well who's gonna stop me if I start tormenting you again?" he asked.

"Me. Lucas I am not in the mood, so unless you want to get laid out right here, then you should just step back." Nathan warned.

"Ha. Come on guys lets go." Lucas said to his friends. Nathan sighed and walked into the school.

Meanwhile, Lydia was sitting in Karen's café, talking with Karen. Something she had done many days in the past 13 years. Sometimes when Nathan and Haley were younger they would run around the café. Today Lydia was there on a mission. Today she needed help and Karen was the one to give it to her.

"So how has Nathan been since him and Haley called off their friendship?" she asked concerned.

"Not good. He wont talk to me. I've tried to get him to talk to Keith, but he's blocked everyone out." Karen told her frowning.

"Haley's the same. At least she's talking to me though. I think we need to do something." Lydia said.

"Like what?" Karen asked curious.

"What about if you go to my house and talk to Haley and I'll go talk to Nathan. Maybe we can persuade them to talk to each other." Lydia suggested.

"Well, its worth a try." Karen agreed.

Haley sat in the library reading. She moved to the very back of the library to avoid being seen by Nathan. She was still avoiding him like the plague. It was easier that way. She couldn't deny that she missed him, but that didn't mean she could do something about it. They were nothing. Their friendship was over, she had made sure of that. The rest of the school day went on the same as the past three weeks. Haley walked the long way to all her classes as to avoid seeing Nathan. Nathan hoped to al least see Haley by walking to class the way she would usually go. But he never seen her. At the end of the day, Nathan drove home, this time he didn't even look for Haley. Three weeks of not a word had gotten to him. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see her. When he arrived home, he opened the front door and was surprised to see the smiling face of Lydia James staring at him from the couch.

"Mrs James what are you doing here?" he asked happy to see her.

"I'm here to see you actually." she told him.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I'm here to talk about Haley and your relationship with her." she said.

"There is no relationship." Nathan reminded her.

"Well there could be." she said.

"How. Haley made it quite clear that she never wants to see me again." he said sinking into the chair.

"Let me tell you something. A lot of this you already know But you know that Haley hides when things get hard, and that's what she's doing now. She's hiding from you. Haley loves you Nathan. I know that because she told me that. Nathan, just remember that there are so many people out there that don't live the life they should because they don't open their hearts to love. The kind of love that I know you and Haley could have." Lydia said told him patting his thigh.

"Thanks Lydia. Really. But the ball is officially in her court. If she wants to make something of us, then I will do whatever she wants." Nathan said.

"Just give her time." Lydia sat patting his thigh once more, getting up to leave.

"Thanks for coming by Mrs James." Nathan said walking her to the door.

"Come on Nathan. You've been calling me Lydia since you were 4." she said.

"It just feels weird now that me and Haley have nothing." he said sadly.

"You and Haley will always have a thirteen year friendship. Just remember that you'll always have us." she said before turning and walking back to her car. Nathan sighed and went back inside.

Haley was spending her night in her room, vacillating between sobbing and hating herself for her weakness. She used to spend her evenings on the roof of the café with Nathan. Now she couldn't even imagine going there at all. She tried going there, but couldn't. It reminded her too much of the times she spent with Nathan. She was sitting in silence. Her mom was out and her dad was at work. She was surprised however when the doorbell rang. Reluctantly she answered the door to find Karen standing on her doorstep.

"Hi Haley. Can we talk?" she asked

"Of course." Haley said stepping aside to let the older woman pass.

"I actually want to talk to you about Nathan." she said.

"Karen." Haley begged.

"I know Haley. I know he's a hard topic for you to talk about." Karen sympathized.

"He is." Haley admitted.

"I just want you to know that I know you two will work things out eventually. He loves you, and its obvious that you love him. Don't make the same mistakes I have." she told her.

"what mistakes have you made?" Haley wondered.

"I have been in love with Keith since the day Nathan was born. Just knowing that he was there for me made me fall for him. I just haven't done anything about it, and now its too late." Karen explained.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yes. Keith doesn't know, and he probably never will. Don't make the same mistake with Nathan." Karen warned.

"It's not the same. Nathan knows how I feel." she said.

"It's exactly the same. You are scared of being with Nathan, just the same as I'm scared of being with Keith. Keith is my best friend, and that's all he'll ever be. You don't have to go there. You can save yourself the permanent heartbreak of being alone, because the one person you love, you cant be with, since you're scared." she said.

"I love Nathan Karen. And I'm not afraid of loving him. I'm just afraid of him not loving me." Haley admitted.

"Haley that's not a problem. Nathan loves you more than anything. I can see it in his eyes. I've known you two would end up together since that day you tore a strip off of Dan so wide when he yelled at Nathan. He came to the café that night and told me that he was going to marry you. You guys were 10. Don't hide anymore. It's not worth the pain that exists in your chest whenever you think of the person that owns your heart. And I can see it in your eyes Haley, Nathan owns your heart. And I know for a fact that you own Nathans." she said.

"Obviously I don't. He's dating Teresa." she said tears betraying her.

"You don't know? Nathan and Teresa broke up this morning. She ended things when she realized that he was in love with you." she alerted Haley.

"I didn't know that. So you think that Nathan and I have a shot?" she asked.

"I know you have a shot Haley." Karen smiled.

"I'll think about it. I don't know if I can put myself out there." Haley said.

"That's all I ask. Think about you're future and if Nathan is in it, then don't make the same mistake as I did." Karen said patting her thigh.

"Thank you for this Karen." Haley said heartfelt.

"You're welcome Haley. But I should go. I'll leave you to it." she said standing up. Haley walked Karen to the door and hugged the woman tightly before watching her walk to her car. Haley sighed and walked back upstairs to her room, knowing she had a lot to think about.

It only took a few minutes for her to realize what she had to do. She knew that there was only one thing she could do. She walked out the front door, jogging to Nathan's house before she lost her nerve. She walked directly to the door on the side of the house the led to Nathan's bedroom. Knocking on the door frantically hoping she wouldn't lose her nerve when he opened the door. When he opened the door she saw he was wearing his jacket meaning that he was just leaving.

"Haley?" he said shocked to see her on his doorstep.

"Are you going somewhere?" she asked.

"I was just heading to the Rivercourt with Skills and the guys." he answered still confused by her presence.

"We need to talk." she said not moving from her spot on his doorstep.

"Okay?" he asked defensively.

"I just need to say this once. But I'm sorry. I was so scared of you. Especially when I found out how I felt about you. And then I saw you with Teresa and I freaked. My heart was broken. I'm over that now. I just want you to know that I love you. Last time I said that I was busy ending our friendship. I don't want that now. I love you Nathan." she said.

"Haley stop rambling. You always do that. I love you too." he said. She smiled and wrapped her arms around him before tentatively pressing her lips to his.

"So does this mean you're my girlfriend?" he asked.

"If you'll have me." she answered.

"Definitely. Are you coming to the Rivercourt? Skills and the guys are waiting. I'm late." he said.

"Definitely. And you were late because you were with me. If they don't forgive you then I'll make them." she told him.

"Great. Let's go." he said lacing their fingers together. He opened his car door for her and she slid in. Once he was in, he laced his fingers through hers once again.

"I love you." he whispered.

"I love you." she replied. A couple minutes later they parked on the grass at the Rivercourt. The guys were all convened on the bleachers.

"You're late." Skills called.

"I was busy." Nathan said grinning pulling Haley with him towards the group.

"I see that. Welcome back Hales." Skills said walking over to hug her.

"Glad to be back. Although I was never really gone." she said.

"You weren't here." Junk replied.

"I couldn't. But I'm back for good." she said.

"Yeah. My girlfriend is here for good." Nathan said smirking.

"Oooh Nathan and Haley are dating?" Skills asked.

"As of like five minutes ago." Haley said.

"Well. Great. It's about time you two idiots finally admitted those feelings to each other." Skills said.

" Well fancy seeing you guys all here." Keith said walking with Karen towards the court.

"Mom what are you doing here?" Nathan asked.

"Well we were walking and we heard Skills talking so we decided to join you. Nice to see you and Haley together again." Karen said.

"We are together. Mom meet my girlfriend Haley." he said still grinning.

"Congratulations Nate. I havent seen that smile in a while." Keith noted.

"This is the smile reserved for only when Haley is in my life." Nathan said the smile still not leaving his handsome face.

"Is this like a family reunion or something?" another voice called out walking towards them.

"Mom, what are you and dad doing here." Haley asked.

"Well we went out for a walk and heard voices out here, so we decided to come join you all." Jimmy said.

"Well since there are so many people here, why don't we play a game of basketball." Skills suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Nathan said.

"As long as I don't have to play." Mouth interjected.

"If the numbers work out, you don't have to play." Nathan bargained.

"Deal." Mouth said.

"I think that Skills and Nathan should be our captains because they are the two best players and its not fair for you to be on the same team." Keith suggested.

"Deal. I get Haley." Nathan shot out immediately. Haley immediately went to Nathan's side and lacing their fingers together.

"Well I get Fergie." Skills said.

Across the court Lucas was watching them. This is where he came whenever things at home got to be too much. But it was clearly occupied. His father had thoroughly tortured him today. Until he had had enough and walked out. Instinctively he came here, and seeing all of them having fun made him jealous.

Nathan seen Lucas standing off to the side.

"I'll take Lucas." Nathan called out loud enough for him to hear.

"What?" Lucas called back incredulously while walking towards them.

"I said I'll take Lucas. I've been having too good of a night to ruin it like this. I think its time for you to remember how fun basketball can be. I know its not hard having Dan at your throat constantly." Nathan explained.

"Why? I mean I've been nothing but a dick to you." Lucas asked.

"Because I want to. And I think that even you need a night to enjoy just basketball and tonight could be that night. As long as you can put your hatred for me behind you, and Haley here can put hers for you behind her." Nathan said smiling down at Haley.

"Alright. I'll play." Lucas said going to stand by Nathan.

"Great. Skills your pick." Nathan said.

"I'll take Junk." Skills said.

"I'll take Keith." Nathan called.

"Well I get Karen then." Skills called.

"I get Lydia." Nathan called.

"Jimmy. Mouth you get to commentate which is what you wanted all along." Skills said.

"Yup. I don't play basketball." Mouth replied taking his usual seat on the table.

"I don't either. But I'm still playing." Haley interjected.

"Yeah but you're dating a basketball player." Mouth replied.

The two teams separated to go over strategy.

"Alight keep the ball away from Haley at all costs." Nathan instructed, knowing how hopeless Haley was with a basketball. The two teams converged and the game began. The game was close, the team of Nathan and Lucas was doing a great job of keeping Skill's team at bay. Skills called a time out just before the final 30 seconds of the game.

"Alright. We are ahead right now by 2 points. In order to win we need to make sure Haley gets the ball at the very end, then we foul her. Everyone knows she is incapable of making a free throw. Easy victory." Skills said grinning at his ingenuity.

"Alright, only give Haley the ball if completely necessary." Nathan instructed smiling at his girlfriend.

"I love you're confidence in me." she joked.

"I want to win." Nathan said.

Yeah. Don't pass to me." Haley said. The teams converged again and the final 30 seconds went underway. With three seconds left Haley was stuck with the ball and as Skills had instructed he fouled her. Nathan fell to his knees on the court knowing now that their only chance at a victory was Haley hitting a free throw. That was insanely unlikely. She shot an apologetic look to the rest of her team before glaring at the basketball. She looked from the ball to the hoop willing it to go to the hoop. Going through the steps Nathan had taught her a while back, she shot the ball. The ball flew through the air hitting the rim and bouncing to the other side before falling through the hoop. Skills's team was silent, shocked that Haley had managed to make a shot. Haley stood there frozen, until the situation came clear to her.

"Oh my God I made a shot." she yelled.

"We won." Nathan yelled giving Lucas a high five before enveloping Haley in a bear hug. He kissed her, never remembering being so happy.


	6. Chapter 6

Here is the first date, for all of you who asked. Hope it surpasses all of your expectations. it's one of my favorite chapters i have ever written. hope you enjoy it. Read and review.

PS i own nothing.

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Nathan woke up the next morning grinning from ear to ear He couldn't believe he could feel like this. He was in love and happy, he never expected it to feel like this. There was no more aching in his chest. There was no more dreading seeing Haley because he didn't want her to see how he felt for her. There was no more of any of that. Now he could be happy, he could see her whenever he wanted. And above all, he could show her how he felt about her whenever he wanted, because by some miracle she felt the same way as he did. Happily he got out of bed and showered before getting dressed and running down the stairs two at a time.

"Where are you off to so early this morning son?" Karen asked.

"Like you actually have to ask." he said grinning.

"You're going to see Haley. I'm so happy you two fixed everything." she said.

"Me too mom." he said walking over to hug her and kiss her cheek. Nathan opened the door and almost ran Keith over in his haste to get out of the house.

"Whoa Nate, where's the fire?" he asked steadying himself.

"Oh sorry Keith. Going to see my girlfriend." he said as form of explanation.

"I see. Well have fun." he said moving off to the side to let Nathan pass.

"He's a little excited." Keith noted.

"I'm happy. It's quite a change of the last three weeks let me tell you. " Karen said.

"I know. I remember that. He would talk to anyone." Keith said.

"I know. I'm happy about this. Him and Haley are meant to be. Everyone knows that." she said.

"Yeah." Keith said, remembering that he felt the exact same way about him and Karen.

Nathan knocked on the door once he got to Haley's house, and a couple seconds later Lydia opened the door.

"Since when do you knock Nathan? You usually just walk right on in." she said grinning when she saw him at the door.

"I know. I just thought now that Haley and I are dating. You'd want me to." he said trying to explain.

"No. You just walk right in whenever you want. Haley's just upstairs showering, she'll be down in a bit." she said. Nathan nodded and walked over to sit with Jimmy on the couch, while Lydia went back to the kitchen.

"Are you staying for breakfast Nathan? We're having waffles." she called from the kitchen.

"Sure" he replied loving how easy it was to talk with them. He looked at the TV and saw that Jimmy was watching sports centre.

"So anything interesting happening in the world of sports?" he asked.

"Not really. TV is so stupid in the mornings, there is nothing on." he said frowning.

"I know. Other than NBA games TV sucks all the time." Nathan said.

"True. Except for the NBA games part. Basketball sucks Nate." Jimmy said grinning at the boy.

"Basketball does not suck. Basketball is the greatest sport out there. Oh yeah I remember now, you're a hockey fan. Hockey sucks." Nathan retaliated good naturedly.

"That's where you're wrong boy. But anyways what's the plan for day one of Naley the relationship?" Jimmy asked.

"Naley?" Nathan asked.

"well me and Lydia were sitting up talking last night, and when I was trying to say you're guys names, it came out in one word. Naley. So that is what you're called when you're together. It's easier that way." he explained.

"Well, I am in the process of planning our first date. Last night does not count." he said.

"Oooh, what are you guys doing? I heard the words first date and I had to join in the conversation." Lydia said from the kitchen.

"Cant tell you. I tell you, you tell Haley. It ruins the surprise." he said.

"Fine." Lydia and Jimmy said in unison.

"What surprise?" Haley said coming down the stairs dressed in jeans and a t shirt.

"Not telling." he said leaning in to kiss her softly as she came to stand in front of him.

"Not even a little hint?" she asked.

"Nope. Actually I'll tell you one thing. It is in regards to our date tonight." he told her.

"Oooh, I officially cant wait. So what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I wanted to see you. We can hang out for a while and then I have to go get things ready for tonight." he told her.

"So what do you want to do?" she asked.

"You choose." he said. Nathan sat down on the couch as he awaited her decision. She smiled and sat down beside him.

"Breakfast's ready." Lydia called from the kitchen.

"Oooh, waffles." Nathan said getting up and going into the kitchen eagerly.

They ate in comfortable silence for a while. Once everyone was done eating, everyone put their dishes in the dishwasher, and went to sit out in the living room. They all watched TV in silence for a while.

"Okay, are you two planning on staying here all morning?" Jimmy asked.

"I don't know. Why?" Haley asked.

"Well no reason honey." Jimmy said slightly disgruntled.

"Dad what's wrong?" Haley asked and Nathan glanced at him curiously.

"Oh your dad was just looking forward to our plans for this morning. You know it is Saturday morning right? And for the past 3 weeks we haven't been able to engage in our Saturday morning sex session." Lydia said.

"Oh my God, I so did not want to hear that." Haley said covering her ears. Nathan laughed out loud at her parents lack of discretion at their sex life.

"Well, then get out, so you don't have to hear it." Jimmy said pointing to the door.

"Okay, we are so leaving right now." she said grabbing Nathan's hand and pulling him towards the door. When they got outside, Nathan could see the red tinge of her face.

"That was horrible." Haley whined.

"That was funny." he retaliated.

"Let's go to your house. Maybe you're mom will be making out with Keith or something." she teased.

"Oh don't even go there. My mom and Keith will never be together, since they cant admit their feelings." he said.

"I know. She told me that, when she convinced me to open my heart to you." she told him.

A couple minutes later they arrived at his house.

"You know what? I like you're house better, there's less of a chance of me walking in and finding your mom going at it with some guy on the kitchen table, than there is at my house." she said.

"You're parents went at it on that kitchen table?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, once a couple years ago. Keith wanted you to help him at the garage, so I came home that Saturday morning and found my parents." she remembered, cringing at the memory.

"I remember that. You came to the garage and kept us company, you never told us why you didn't want to go home." he recalled.

"I never wanted to think about it again." she remembered.

"I bet. There's something taboo about seeing you're parents having sex. It's just wrong." he said.

"I know. Now lets not talk about that anymore." she said, walking into his bedroom and plopping down on the bed.

"You act like you own the place." he noticed of her actions in his house.

"I feel comfortable here. It's like my second house." she said.

"Good. I feel the same way about you're house." he told her, sitting beside her on the bed.

" I have to be the luckiest person in the world." she told him lacing their fingers together.

"Why is that? Other than having the hottest boyfriend in the world." he asked her.

"Because not only do I have the hottest boyfriend in the world, my parents already love my boyfriend. There is no awkward "So this is the new boyfriend." talks." she told him.

"Ah yes. That is a good thing. Although I was still nervous about seeing your parents after we got together." he told her.

"Oh, why?" she asked.

"Because it would be the first time I saw them, being you're boyfriend. Before yesterday, all I was, was the best friend. Now I'm the boyfriend, I just thought they'd treat me different. Like they'd be more protective of you and not quite as nice to me." he tried to explain.

"No. They've been waiting for us to get together since they first figured out I had feelings for you." she told him.

"You have feelings for me Miss James." he asked leaning closer to her.

"I love you Mr. Scott." she replied leaning in even closer to him.

"Are you going to kiss me now?" he asked, not really giving her a choice.

"You bet." she said closing the distance between them. He kissed her gently at first, gauging her response, considering he knew, he was her first kiss, and didn't now how to push her. But she took him by surprise and opened her mouth, and tracing her tongue along his bottom lip. He moaned at the contact and opened his mouth to her. Their tongues gently duelled, and her hands went up to cradle his cheek. His hands worked their way into her hair, his fingers tangling in her hair, throwing himself into the kiss. She broke away with a desperate need for air and smiled up at him.

"That was amazing." she said.

"You are amazing. But I should probably get going. You can stay here if you want, I know you don't want to go home." he told her wincing slightly.

"I'll stay here. Just come back here when you're done. Or by then I might be at home again." she said reaching up to kiss him again before he left.

As Nathan ran around town getting the stuff he needed for their date, Haley laid on his bed and took a nap. She didn't know what else to do, didn't want to watch TV. She didn't want to play his X box. She didn't want to poke around his room, she'd done that many times in the past. She settled for curling up in his bed and taking a nap.

A few hours later Haley woke up and decided to tempt fate by going home. She wanted to do tonight right, she wanted Nathan to pick her up at home. Before leaving she glanced at her phone, she saw a text message from Nathan.

"Go home. I'll see you tonight. Although I wont be picking you up at home either. There is a clue waiting for you at home." the message said. She smiled loving the effort he was going to for their first date. When she got home as promised their was an envelope on the kitchen table.

"Nathan left that for you honey. I don't know what it is." Lydia said from the living room.

"It just the instructions for the date. I don't know what he has planned, so I just have to follow the clues." she explained. "Aw that is so cute." Lydia said. Haley opened the first envelope and pulled out the card.

"Find Skills. He is at home. To find you're next clue." the card said. She thought about it, and knowing Nathan like she did, she realized she wouldn't find Skills at his house. She got in her car and drove to the Rivercourt, where sure enough Skills was waiting patiently for her. "H James. I didn't think you'd find me." he told her.

"I know Nathan better than anyone." she said by way of explanation. He handed her the next card and she opened it.

"Go find a place that fixes things, to get your next clue." the card said. She grinned at how easy his clues were to follow, but that may only be because she knew him so well. Immediately she drove to Keith's body shop and found Keith waiting outside.

"Nathan told me to give you these." he said handing her an envelope and little box. She opened the envelope and the card led her to an address and told her to open the box. She opened the box to find a tennis bracelet that Haley had wanted for months. She smiled and hopped in her car. When she got to the house that the clue led her to, she got out of the car. She didn't recognize the house, and had no idea who lived there. Whoever it was obviously lived a pretty good life judging by the size of the house. Nervously she rang the doorbell and to Haley's surprise, Brooke Davis opened the door.

"Haley, I've been expecting you." she said inviting her in the house.

"Brooke?" Haley asked.

"Relax. Nathan and I have kinda become friends, and he asked me to help him tonight. Now lets go." she said leading her upstairs. Once in Brooke's room, she saw a black dress and black shoes laid across the bed.

"Go change into that, and then come on back out here, so I can do your hair and makeup." she instructed.

Haley went into the bathroom, struck again at how much thought Nathan put into this. She got the dress on and went back out, and Brooke instructed her to sit in front of her vanity. A little while later Haley's hair was all curled and her make up was done. Once she got up Brooke handed her an envelope.

"Go back to where it all began." the card said.

"Thank you Brooke." she said before leaving.

"You're welcome. Have a good night." she said. Knowing exactly what he meant, she drove to the café. This is where they met 13 years ago, when her mom brought her in for a coffee, and Nathan was sitting on the floor playing with some toy cars. She walked in the café doors and to her surprise it was Karen waiting for her.

"Here is you're card." she said handing Haley yet another envelope.

"Come find me. You're getting close. I am in our spot waiting for you." he said. She smiled and turned to walk to the stairs leading to the rooftop. It was the perfect place for their first date, and couldn't believe he went to this much trouble. She opened the door at the top and the first thing she saw were candles adorning every available surface, trying to make the rooftop look romantic. She then saw a table set for two, covered with a white tablecloth with two covered plates on top. She saw Nathan approach her from off to the side with a bouquet of little purple flowers.

"I cant believe you remembered these." she said looking at the flowers.

"Of course I do. I picked you some of these when we were five. I remember that day clearly." he told her kissing her cheek.

"This is so amazing. I cant believe you did all this." she said.

"I wanted to make this the best date ever." he said taking her hand and leading her to the table. He pulled out her chair for her and she sat down before he sat down across from her.

"So what's on the menu for tonight?" she asked.

"I think you'll like it." he told her before lifting the cover off her plate, revealing a plate heaped with macaroni and cheese.

"I love you, you know that. You have made this the best night of my life." she told him lacing their fingers together across the table.

"I love you too." he told her smiling. They made small talk all through the meal, while the soft music played around them. All the candles and the music made it all look very romantic, and Haley loved him for all the work he put into this. After they finished eating, he held out his hand.

"Do you want to dance?" he asked. She nodded and took his hand. He led her out onto his makeshift dance floor and they swayed to the soft music.

"You're not too bad at this." she noted as they were dancing.

"That's because the music is nice and slow, and it doesn't take a whole lot of talent to move like this." he said. She nestled her head into his shoulder, and he kissed the top of her head.

"I love you so much." he whispered.

"I love you too." she told him into his chest.

Later that night, he drove her home, they decided she could come back and get her car in the morning. When he walked her to the front door, and kissed her softly.

"I love you so much. I'll see you in the morning." he said.

"I love you too." she repeated, and at that moment, she knew she would never love another man as much as she loved Nathan Scott. Her best friend.


	7. Chapter 7

this is a really short chapter, that i am not impressed with. i couldnt think of anything to write, and wanted to get somethign out before i went on holiday. it didnt really help that i hurt my arm and find it hard to type. Oh well. hope you enjoy the really short chapter. the next one will be much longer and better. i promse. hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think.

* * *

She couldn't believe how right the world could be. Right now, everything was as it should be, and Haley couldn't be happier. It was Monday morning, and just as she had for the past many years, she was waiting for Nathan to pick her up. But today it was different. Today was the first day he was picking her up as her boyfriend, not just her best friend. Although he was still that too. She couldn't believe how right the world was. She spent more time at the mirror than usual, applying make up and making her hair look perfect. She wanted to look beautiful walking into the school hand in hand with Nathan for the first time. Although she tried hard not to admit it, she was nervous about walking in their as Nathan's girlfriend. The whole school would probably think of it as a pity thing, even though everyone knew about their lifelong friendship. Bit it didn't matter, because once she heard the honk of the horn signalling that Nathan was there, all her fears went out the window. Confident for the first time in her life, she grabbed her bag and walked out the door to where her personal miracle was waiting for her.

"Good morning." she greeted, leaning over to kiss him softly when she got in the car.

"Good morning. You look so beautiful today." he told her softly.

"Just today?" she asked playfully.

"everyday." he said taking her hand.

"You don't look so bad yourself" she said stroking his face. They talked animatedly the entire way to school. Both we relieved that nothing had changed between then except for the fact that they touched more freely now. They still talked the same way it's just now, they were also touching more. When they pulled up in his parking space he squeezed Haley's hand.

"Ready for this?" he asked.

"For what?" she wondered.

"everyone knowing that we're together for real. People are going to stare." he said.

"I know. And I'm ready. You're by my side. It'll all be okay." she said.

"You're right. It'll all be okay. Wait there." he said as he hopped out and walked around to her side. She grinned at him when he opened the door and took her hand.

"You are quite chivalrous." she noted.

"Anything for my girl." he said kissing her cheek. They walked towards their table and he took the seat right next to hers. They talked quietly for a while until a voice interrupted them.

"So you guys got together." Teresa said walking up to the table.

"Yeah we did. Thanks for dumping me Teresa." Nathan said.

"Oh you're welcome. It never would have worked out anyways." she said smiling.

"I'm sorry for what I said to you Teresa. It was wrong of me." Haley apologized.

"Oh. It's okay Haley. I deserved it. Lets just call it even." she suggested.

"Deal." Haley agreed.

"Good. Okay. I better go. Have a good day, you two." she said before walking away. A few minutes later Lucas appeared.

"Hey. So I never thanked you for the other night man." he said as he took a seat across from them.

"what for?" Nathan asked.

"Letting me play. I have forgotten how much fun basketball could be. It was nice to remember for a night." he explained.

"Well, we play there almost every night. You're welcome to join us whenever you want." Nathan invited.

"Really?" Lucas asked shocked.

"why not." Nathan replied.

"I've always been an ass to you. I don't deserve this." he said.

"True. But I'm trying to set a good example for Haley. I don't need her hitting you or something." Nathan said smirking.

"Shut up. I have never hit him." she said incredulously.

"You were close. I could tell. You had this fire in you're eyes that actually made me fear you." Lucas said.

"You were afraid of me?" she asked amused.

" To death." he affirmed.

A few minutes later the bell rang and Nathan walked Haley to her first class.

"Can you believe Lucas was afraid of me?" she asked as they walked.

"Yeah I can. You are scary when you're pissed." he told her.

"You better hope you never piss me off then." she said as they stopped outside her class.

"I never plan on it." he said as he leaned in to kiss her.

"I'll see you after class." she said when he pulled away. He turned and walked away towards his first class, and she turned into the room. She took her seat and opened her book to get ready for the class.

Halfway through the class Haley found herself doodling on her notebook, not having heard the last few things the teacher had said. But unable to care. She lapsed back into thinking about Nathan when she heard her name being called.

"Haley? Haley? Miss James." he called. Haley snapped out of her reverie and started straight at her teacher.

"Oh I'm sorry." she said quickly.

"where were you Miss James." the teacher asked curiously.

"Oh um. Thinking about Nathan." she said honestly.

"I see. Think about him after class." he said.

"Sorry." she said honestly. The rest of the day went on like that. No matter what she tried she couldn't get her mind off of Nathan. And quite honestly she didn't want to.


	8. Chapter 8

ok here it is. i have had no internet at all this week. but got lots of writing done. the rest of the chapters of all my fics will be posted tomorrow when i get back to the world of internet. hope you enjoy this one. i made it a bit longer to apologize for the lack of updates and the horrible chapter i posted last week. hope you enjoy. let me know what you think.

* * *

"Haley-bop, we're going to see Matt for the weekend. You coming?" Lydia James asked her youngest daughter.

"Um, no. I'll stay here. I have a assignment due Monday that I should finish." she said. "Okay. You're loss, Isabelle is getting so cute." Lydia said walking down the stairs.

"I know she is. Matt facebooks a picture to me every month of his beloved baby." Haley said laughing.

"Okay. Well have fun here this weekend all alone." Lydia said as she grabbed her overnight bag and walked to the door.

"No funny business with Nathan." Jimmy warned his daughter.

"Dad." Haley said trying to stop the conversation.

"You cant blame me for clarifying the rules around here Haley bop. No sleeping with the boy. By sleeping with I mean having sex. You two have had sleepovers before and it doesn't necessarily have to stop." Jimmy explained.

"You do know that you just gave our daughter permission to sleep with the boy. I'm so proud of you." she said clapping her hands together.

"Just go." Haley said pushing them towards the door. Once they were gone, she flopped down on the couch, bored out of her mind. On one hand she wanted to prove to her parents that just because they were out of town did not mean that she would immediately get Nathan over here. But on the other hand she really was bored, and he always seemed to have something for her to do. The pros outweighed the cons and a few minutes later she called Nathan.

"Hey Nate. How's it going?" she asked when he picked up the phone.

"Good. You?" he asked.

"Bored out of my skull. Can you come over?" she asked.

"Of course. Why are you bored. You're never bored." he asked confused.

"My mom and dad are on their way to see Matt, so I'm all alone." she said pouting a little.

"I'll be right there." Nathan said eagerly, realizing he had time to be with her without her parents around. This was an opportunity he couldn't or wouldn't pass up.

As he always used to do, he walked right into the house without knocking or ringing the doorbell. He seen Haley sitting on the couch flipping through stations a mile a minute. Knowing she didn't hear him come in, he snuck up behind her and touched her shoulder.

"Hey!" he said.

"Oh my God Nate you scared me." she said holding her chest.

"I'm sorry." he said kissing the side of her neck. He wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"So what is that chance that I could get you to stay here the whole weekend with me? My parents are gone until Monday morning." she said staring into his eyes,

"Like you even have to ask. Like there is any chance of me not staying here with you all alone." he said rubbing her arms.

"Good. I was hoping you'd say that." she sad turning her head so she could kiss him. In her mind she felt there was nothing better than kissing Nathan Scott. It was such a heady feeling knowing that he wanted her as much as she wanted him. There was nothing that she wanted to do this weekend more than spend it all alone with Nathan. She was so in love with him, it was hard to think about anything else. He moved to sit next to her on the couch and pulled her close to his side.

"Okay so we have all day today and all day tomorrow all alone. What should we do?" he asked a twinkle in his eye.

"Not what you're thinking. But I was thinking we could cuddle, eat food and enjoy being together." she said grinning at him.

"Can we kiss?" he asked.

"Definitely. I thought that was a given." she smiled up at him.

"Good. I think you should let me cook tonight." he said.

"You? Cook? You want me to actually risk my parents kitchen, by letting you cook?" she asked rhetorically.

"Yeah. Actually I do. Don't worry I wont burn you're house down." he whispered in her ear.

"God I hope not. It would really be hard to explain why the house is a pile of ash when my parents come home Monday morning." she told him smiling.

He sat beside her for a while longer, before getting up and stretching.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I need to go get stuff for dinner." he told her.

"Can I come?" she asked batting her eyelashes.

"No. It's a surprise. I'll be back later." he said kissing her forehead.

"Hurry back." she said smiling as he walked away.

Knowing he was completely incapable of cooking, he went to his moms café.

"Hey mom. I need food." he said walking into the café.

"Like that's a surprise." Karen said good naturedly.

"No I need food for Haley. I promised her I'd cook for her tonight, but you and I both know that I'm completely useless in the kitchen." he explained.

" So you want to make you're girlfriend think that you've cooked this gourmet meal for her, when in fact you just got it for free no less, at your moms café?" she asked.

"Exactly." he said taking a seat.

"Okay. At least you're honest. What do you want." she asked.

"Whatever you feel like making. I want a starter, a salad, the entrée, dessert. The whole nine yards." he explained.

"Okay. I'll see what I can do." she said turning to go into the kitchen. Nathan took a seat at the counter to wait for his food. A few minutes later Karen came out and stood in front of him with her hands on her hips.

"You know, since I'm going to all this trouble, you should wait my tables for me for a while." she said.

"Really mom?" he asked.

"Yes really. Get to work." she commanded.

"Yes Ma'am." he said saluting before going to tend her tables.

Meanwhile, Haley sat at home working on her homework. She decided that it was good that Nathan had to leave for a while, it gave her time to finish her work. She really was curious what he was getting, and couldn't wait for him to get home.

An hour later Karen came out with two bags of food, conveniently placed in a bag from the supermarket down the street.

"Thanks mom, you really thought of everything." he said kissing her cheek.

"Keep in mind the only reason I did this for you is because I like Haley." she told him.

"You didn't do it for me?" he asked.

"Absolutely not. I have to love you, but I don't have to like you. I like Haley better." she said nudging her son.

"I can feel the love mom. I can definitely feel the love. And everyone thinks I have it better." he said walking out of the café smiling. He knew he had the best mom in the world. In fact he had the best everything. He had the best uncle/ father figure, he has the best friends, the best mom, and the best best friend/girlfriend that world has ever seen. When he got back to Haley's he went right into the kitchen and placed the bags on the counter, before going into the living room to see Haley. "You're back." she said smiling at him.

"Yeah. Now you stay here, and I have to go cook. My mom helped me a bit with ingredients and stuff. If you need anything ask me, because you are not allowed anywhere near the kitchen." he told her seriously.

"Okay. Why so secretive?" she asked.

"Because dinner is a surprise. I need a little time to get things ready?" he explained.

"You're mom helped?" she asked.

"Only a little bit. She did a little bit but I have to do all the cooking." he said lying. "Fine. I'll stay here, and finish this assignment for Mr Anders." she said giving in.

"Good. Give me a half hour." he said, knowing the time was a little long for dishing out stuff.

"You know where everything is?" she asked.

"Yeah, I've been coming here since I was four." he said laughing.

"Right." she remembered before turning back to her math homework. Nathan went into the kitchen and started scooping his moms food into bowls, to make it look like he actually cooked. He saw his mom made fettuccini with chicken in a mushroom alfredo sauce. It smelt heavenly. He was left with instructions to put the garlic bread in the oven for 10 minutes, no more. Just until the cheese was melted. His mom left him idiot proof instructions for the things that had a little preparation. He dished the Caesar salad into a bowl and garnished it with the parmesan cheese like his mom had instructed.

"How's it going in there?" Haley called smelling garlic from the kitchen.

"Great. How's math?" he called back.

"Great. Now get to work, its getting late." she said glancing at her watch, and noticing it was almost 5. She wondered for a minute where the day went, it was day one without her parents and it was going too fast. Back in the kitchen Nathan divided up the strawberry cheese cake up onto plates and placed it in the fridge. He opened up the bottle of sparkling apple juice his mom had sent and poured a little into two glasses. He brought Haley's out to her. "Here. Dinner will be served in a minute." he said dramatically.

"Nice touch. Mmm sparkling apple juice." she said taking a sip of the wonderful liquid. Nathan hurried back to the kitchen to check his garlic bread and smiled when he saw that it was perfect. He pulled it out and put the bread on a plate and put it on the kitchen. He brought the other plates over to the table, along with the bottle of sparkling apple juice. Staring at the table, he realized just how much his mom knew what she was doing in the kitchen. She didn't send any starters but there was already enough food. Dinner was perfect. He went out to the living room and summoned Haley into the kitchen.

"Time to eat.." he called.

"It smells heavenly, I'm actually surprised." she said.

"I bet. " he said pulling her chair out for her.

"What a gentleman." she said taking a seat. He took the seat across from her and started eating.

"This is really delicious." she told him.

"I know." he said proud of himself.

"tell your mom thank you for me." she said.

"Wait. What?" she asked. She laughed at the expression on his face.

"Keep in mind that I've worked at Karen's Café for a long time now and I know what a box from there looks like babe. Nice try though, and I commend you for not burning the toast. It's perfect." she said reaching for his hand.

"Thanks I had hoped to impress you with my fake cooking skills." he pouted.

"Well the way I think about it. You went to a great effort to keep this from me. Because you're dedicated to making me happy. And I must say this is the best dinner I have ever had. Thank you for this. And also you cooked the garlic bread and its perfect. You did a great job baby." she said squeezing his hand.

"Thanks." he said kissing her hand.

"Now, I think tomorrow for breakfast we should make it together." she suggested.

"That sounds good. Isn't that something that only cheesy couples do though?" he asked.

"Yup. We're a cheesy couple, mister." she said grinning.

"You're right." he said kissing her hand. They finished their dinner talking animatedly.

"Go sit in the living room and I'll clean up." he said.

"Nah, I'll help you." she said clearing her plates from the table. They went into the kitchen, and Nathan washed while Haley dried and put away. After he washed the final plate, he flicked some bubbles at her.

"Ah Nathan!" she squealed.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"You know what." she said flicking bubbles at him.

"Now that was rude." he said flicking some more back at him. His actions commenced the epic battle of the bubbles.

After they were done, and their mess cleaned up they moved into the living room and sunk down into the couch. They were enjoying the silence when the phone started ringing.

"Hello?" Haley answered.

"Haley bop, I'm surprised you're answering." Lydia said over the phone.

"why wouldn't I?" she asked.

"Well, I know Nathan is there and I figured you'd be all hot and heavy right now." she said. Haley could feel the blush creep up her cheeks.

"Mom." she begged.

"Oh I know Haley. I was just teasing you. So how's it going?" she asked.

"Well, Nathan sort of made us a wonderful supper, and now we're sitting on the couch watching Die Hard." she said.

"Nathan cooked? Do I still have a kitchen?" she asked.

"Sort of. You still have a kitchen. Most of the cooking was done at the café. So there was nothing that Nathan could use to burn down the kitchen." she assured her mom.

"Okay. Good. So everything's fine?" she said making sure.

"Perfect." she said.

"Why are you watching Die Hard?" Lydia asked, knowing her daughter hated that movie.

"We kind of had a war of the bubbles earlier while we were cleaning up the kitchen. Since he won, it was unspoken that he got to pick the movie. He's a guy so of course it was Die Hard." she explained.

"Poor Haley. Okay but we got to go. Isabelle is coming to sit with me, and I love my baby granddaughter." she said.

"Okay. Bye mom." she said hanging up. Haley snuggled up into Nathan's arms trying to ignore the movie playing in front of her.

"Do you want to watch something else?" he asked.

"Preferably." she said smiling up at him.

"Okay. I get to pick." he said getting up and walking over to the movie shelf.

"Do your worst." she said instantly regretting what she said, when she saw the evil glint in his eyes.

"Alright. How about Texas Chain Saw Massacre." he said putting the movie in the DVD player.

"You're mean. You know I cant watch scary movies." she whined.

"See it all works in my advantage. You cant watch scary movies. Which means you'll need me to protect you tonight, and I'll get to hold you all night." he said his eyes twinkling.

"You are diabolical." she said kissing him.

"I know. And proud of it." he said kissing her back. Haley hid her face in Nathans side as the movie was on. He tightened his hold around her waist and she moved herself closer to him. When the movie was over, she stood up and pulled him.

"I'm ready for bed." she said. He followed her upstairs and into her bedroom where he flopped down on her bed. She went into the bathroom and changed into her pyjamas. He was already under the covers when she got in. She shut of the light and crawled into bed beside him. She was glad that it still felt the same to lay beside him as it did when they were younger, except now there was a strong sense of love in the air.

"I love you." she said before she nestled her head into his chest.

"Love you too." he said.

The next morning came and Nathan got up as quietly as he could. He went downstairs and called his mom.

"Mom, I need help, can you walk me through how to make pancakes?" he asked.

"Of course." she said. For the next several minutes Karen walked Nathan through the making of pancakes, and when he finished he was quite proud of his handiwork. Sure his pancakes are a little lopsided, and oblong but he was proud of it. He heard Haley come down the stairs.

"What's this?" she asked when she came into the kitchen.

"I called my mom, and she walked me through how to make pancakes." he said proudly.

"Good work." she said sitting down and taking a bite of her pancake.

"They're really good." she said smiling at him.

"Good. I'm glad they don't taste awful." he said taking a bite of his pancake. After she finished eating, Haley went upstairs to shower and get dressed. While she was upstairs Nathan cleaned up the kitchen.

"Wow." she said when she came downstairs to find the kitchen cleaned up.

"Now that that is done. What do you want to do today? We should go out." he asked.

"Okay. Let's go to the Rivercourt." she suggested.

"Sounds good. Maybe I can finally teach you how to hit a free throw." he said.

"I doubt it." she said taking his hand. Haley was happy when she saw that no one was at the court, that way no one would witness her embarrassment.

"Okay. Take this." he said handing her the basketball. He moved to stand behind her. He brought her hands just up past her nose and put his hands on her hips. She squared her shoulders and threw the ball. She was surprised when the ball went right through the hoop.

"Oh my God. I did it." she said cheering. She leaped into his arms.

"Yes. I did the impossible. I taught Haley James how to hit a free throw." he cheered putting her down and running around the river court, celebrating.

"It's not that big of a deal." she said smiling at her boyfriends crazy antics.

"Oh yes it is. That last one you did, at the big family basketball game, was a fluke. And you know it." he said.

"Fine its a big deal." she agreed.

"It is. Now do another." he said handing her the ball.

They played like that for a couple more hours, but eventually they decided it was time to leave.

"Do you want to go to the café for lunch?" he asked.

"Yeah. You're mom can make a third meal for us." she joked.

"Ha ha. And I made the pancakes on my own, she was just on the phone walking me through it." he said defending himself.

"I know baby." she said.

"You're teasing me." he said disbelieving.

"Yeah." she said nudging him. When they made it to the café, he led her to the counter where she hopped up onto a stool.

"Haley. Nathan. What can I get you guys?" Karen asked, seeing her favorite employee and her son sitting at the counter.

"whatever you want to make us Karen. We're hungry after playing basketball all morning." Haley said.

"Okay. I'll be back." she said. Nathan turned and saw Keith come in.

"Hey Keith. Come sit with us." Nathan called.

"Hey Nate. Haley." Keith said taking the stool beside Haley.

"Hi Keith. How are you?" she asked.

"Great. You?" he asked.

"Perfect. I have the best boyfriend ever." she said grinning.

"Ah, so you're dating more than one guy huh. There's no way you could be talking about Nathan." Keith said jokingly.

"Shockingly enough, Nathan is perfect." she said.

"Wow. It must be you then." he said. Karen brought out two dishes of mac and cheese a few minutes later.

"Mac and cheese. Really mom?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, Haley said whatever I wanted to get you guys . So enjoy." she said filling Keith's cup with coffee. They ate in silence for a while, just watching Keith and Karen. Nathan leaned over to Haley.

"Look at my mom and Keith." he whispered.

"I know. They really need to admit their feelings." she replied whispering.

"I cant see it happening." he answered quietly.

"Just have faith." she said squeezing his arm. Karen cleared their plates a couple minutes later.

"We should get going." Nathan said leading Haley to the door.

"Ah Nathan. Are you coming home tonight?" Karen asked.

"No, I'm spending one more night with Haley. Her parents will be home tomorrow." he said. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then Nate." she said.

"I have an idea. Why don't you and Keith have dinner together?" Nathan suggested.

"Oh. Well maybe." she said flustered.

"No maybe. You guys are friends. Act like it. Friends have dinner together." he said. Haley smiled up at Nathan.

"Okay. We'll have dinner together, tonight." Karen said giving in.

"Good. We'll be going now." he said. When they got outside, they started walking in the direction of Haley's house.

"I'm good." he said.

"Easy matchmaker. They're having dinner. It's not romantic yet." she said.

"I know. But it's a start." Nathan insisted.

"Yes. It's a start." Haley amended.

They ended up back at her house, just relaxing on the couch. They stayed like that for the rest of the day. Happy that it was a long weekend, they went upstairs to bed early, so that they were up when her parents got home tomorrow morning. As they did last night they fell asleep in each others arms. Really cherishing the time they had together that weekend. Knowing it wouldn't happen too often.


	9. Chapter 9

Here i really hope you like this chapter. it was one of my favorites to write, so i hope you all feel the same about it as i do. it ended up being a little longer than i had originally planned. Let me know what you think :)

PS I own nothing.

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"Awww look at them." Lydia said to Jimmy while they were standing in their daughters doorway watching the two teenagers cuddled up together.

"Aren't they cute." Jimmy said a loud enough for them to hear. Haley stretched and opened her eyes seeing her mom and dad standing by the door.

"Mom! Dad! When did you get here?" she asked glancing at her alarm clock.

"Just a few minutes ago. You two looked so cute together." Lydia said smiling.

"How was you're weekend?" Haley asked rubbing her eyes.

"Wonderful. I really need to go there more often." she said.

"I really intended on being awake when you guys got home." Haley said.

"Oh its fine. I was totally expecting this when I came in this morning. You two have been having sleepovers since you were 8." she said walking out of the room. Haley turned and nudged Nathan.

"Nathan." she called.

"Hmm." he asked opening his blue eyes.

"My mom and dad are here. I woke up to find them standing over us." she said.

"Oh. I'll get up. I should go home for a bit too. I kinda want to know what happened with my mom and Keith last night." he said.

"Okay." she said swinging her legs off the bed and standing up. Nathan did the same and followed her down the stairs.

"Do you kids want breakfast?" Lydia called from the kitchen.

"I'm sure Haley does. But I need to get home. My mom and Keith had a sort of date last night and I want to see how it went." he said.

"Oh. I hope it went well. You're mom is a wonderful woman, and she deserves to be happy." Lydia said. Jimmy sat at the kitchen table reading his newspaper.

"I'll call you later." Nathan said turning to Haley.

"good. We should do something tonight." she suggested.

"Yeah. I'll call you, after I've visited with my mom and showered." he said.

"Good idea. Because no offence or anything, but you kinda stink." she said smiling up at him.

"Ha. You think you're funny don't you. Now because of that comment I'm going to leave here without kissing you goodbye." he said turning to walk out the door.

"Ha. Well maybe I don't want to kiss you. I can hold out longer than you can." she argued smiling the entire time.

"We'll see. It's a challenge." he said walking out of the house and shutting the door behind him.

Haley walked back into the kitchen and sunk down into a chair.

"You guys are so cute together. Don't lose that." Lydia said smiling at her youngest daughter. Haley smiled and looked at her cell phone which was sitting on the kitchen table where she left it last night, when it started vibrating. She opened the message, seeing it was from Nathan.

"I love you." the message said simply. She grinned when she saw it.

"I love you too." she replied, loving how easy it was to say or write those words.

Nathan walked in the front door and saw his mom and Keith having breakfast together.

"Nathan you're home." Karen said.

"Yeah. How was you're night?" he asked curious as to whether Keith spent the night or just came back this morning.

"It was fine. Yours?" Karen asked.

"Perfect. I have the most perfect girlfriend in the world." he said smiling.

"You do. Don't you dare lose that girl Nathan." Karen warned.

"I don't plan on it." Nathan said.

"I better get going. I have things to do before Dan's birthday party tonight which I have to go to. You guys should come to. Keep me company." Keith suggested.

"Sure Keith. Nathan and I will be your back up tomorrow night." Karen said.

"I'll go if Haley can come too." Nathan said not willing to spend one of his precious evenings with Haley with Dan.

"Haley can come. When has she not been welcome to one of out outings?" Karen asked.

"Good point. I'll call her later." he said.

"Bye everyone." Keith said as he walked out the door. Nathan stayed seated across from his mom.

"So did Keith stay here last night?" he asked curiously.

"No. He came back this morning. Why do you ask?" she asked.

"You honestly cant see it?" Nathan asked incredulously.

"Cant see what?" she asked.

"First of all even the blindest person can see that you love him. And everyone can see that he loves you too. I have held on hope for the past many years that you two will get together, and I'll finally have a family. But you too are so stubborn." he said.

"Nathan, Keith and I will never be together. We've been friends for far too long to take that leap." she tried to explain.

"Kinda like me and Haley huh? Me and Haley were friends since we were four. And we still managed to take the leap to being in love. It's the easiest thing you'll ever do. It's scary, but it's the most rewarding thing I've ever done. In the beginning it was hard to take that leap, but once I decided to do it, it was the easiest thing. And I've never been happier." he said passionately.

"You and Haley are different." Karen argued.

"How?" Nathan asked.

"Because there was nothing working against you. Her parents wanted you together. I wanted you together. The guys at the river court wanted you guys together. There was nothing standing in your way." Karen insisted.

"Yes there was. Our feelings were standing in our way. Those feelings were like a giant barricade. Haley ran from hers, I just ignored mine. Neither of us knew the other felt the same way. And since I had no idea how she felt, I turned to someone else. Yet another reason why it shouldn't have worked out. That relationship ended our friendship, and I never thought I'd get another chance. There has never been a relationship more doomed to fail from the very beginning than mine. I love Haley, and that's how I know that its all gonna be okay." he said.

"It's not the same Nathan." Karen said rubbing her forehead.

"Yes it is. You and Keith have the same problems that me and Haley had. You're scared. Get past that fear and you'll find happiness you never knew existed." he said getting up to go take a shower.

Karen sat there contemplating what Nathan told her Part of her thought it was odd having her son giving her romantic advice. It was funny in a way, she had had this talk with Nathan before. Before all the bad things happened between him and Haley. Now Nathan was having the talk with her. It was funny how life turned around like that. Nathan was right though, she really did love Keith. She just didn't know how to make that leap from being just friends to being together for real.

After Nathan was finished his shower, he called Haley.

"Hello." Jimmy answered the phone.

"Hey Jimmy. Is Haley around?" he asked.

"Yeah. Just a second Nathan." he said. A couple seconds later Haley picked up.

"Hey Nate." she said.

"Hey so I have to go to Dan's birthday party tonight and wanted to know if you wanted to come with me. It'll make it a lot less awkward. And you can protect me like you used to do." he said.

"what a tempting offer. Of course I'll come with you. What should I wear?" she asked.

"Well its Dan. So where something sort of nice. Like that black dress you wore for that official first date of ours. I loved that dress on you." he said.

"I'll wear the dress then, since you like it so much. Although I got another one a few days ago. I was shopping with Brooke for some unknown reason. She ran into me at the mall and insisted on shopping with me." she said.

"Oooh. Wear the new one. If Brooke picked it out, its bound to be nice." he said.

"It is. I really like it. When are you picking me up?" she asked.

"The party starts at 4. We're going with Keith and my mom,, they're going at 6, so they could miss the dinner." he explained.

"Okay. I'll be ready then. I'll see you tonight." she said.

"I could pick you up earlier then you could have dinner with me, my mom and Keith at the café." he suggested.

"That sounds perfect. I'll see you in a little bit." she said.

"I'll pick you up at 4. I love you Hales." he said.

"I love you too. I'll see you later." she said hanging up.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" Jimmy asked.

"Um, first we're going to the café for dinner with his mom and Keith. Then we're all going to Dan's birthday party. Nathan needs the protection." she said giggling.

"Ah. Sounds fun. Minus the part with Dan Scott of course." Jimmy said.

"Yeah. I have to go get ready." she said walking up the stairs. Haley went into the bathroom and took a quick shower. She then took her time applying her makeup. There were rare occurrences when Haley took her time putting on her makeup. She curled her hair loosely and pulled the top into a barrette leaving tendrils down framing her face. She walked into the bedroom and looked at the dress laying on her bed. She smiled, loving the flowy material of it. She slipped it on. It was white and fell to her knees. The material swirled around her when she walked. She loved the feeling. It was strapless, but Brooke had made her buy a cardigan that could go with it, when it was cold, or she was feeling self conscious. There was a little broach on the bodice of the dress adding a little sparkle to the otherwise plain dress. She put the black peep toe pumps on her feet and stood in front of the floor length mirror. She was proud of how she looked. Haley walked down the stairs just as the doorbell rang. She opened the door and Nathan stood there looking handsome in his button up shirt and dress pants.

"Wow. You look… wow." he said as she invited him in.

"Thanks you look nice too." she said reaching up to kiss him softly.

"Mom. Dad. We're leaving now. I'll see you later tonight. You don't have to wait up for me, I don't know when I'll be home." she said taking Nathan's hand in hers. Since it was warm out she draped the sweater over her arm and carried it. Nathan opened her door for her, and she slid in.

"Did I mention how beautiful you look tonight?" he asked.

"I think you may have mentioned it. But its okay. I love hearing how beautiful I am." she said squeezing his arm. A couple minutes later he pulled up in front of the café. He helped her out of the car and walked her into the café.

"Haley you look lovely." Karen said.

"Thanks Karen. You look nice too." she said taking a seat next to Nathan at the counter. He placed his hand on her thigh as they ate their dinner in silence.

"So Keith how's business?" Haley asked when she got tired of the silence. It wasn't awkward or anything. She just didn't want silence.

"It's steady. I havent seen you and Nathan at the shop in a while though." he said.

"Yeah. We've been a little busy." she said.

"Yeah. She just cant keep her hands off of me. We're constantly kissing." Nathan joked.

"Nathan." Haley said embarrassed.

"You know it's true Haley." he said.

"Maybe a little." she relented. Karen and Keith laughed and Haley felt her blush go away. It felt just like it did at her house when she was with Karen and Keith. Karen, Keith and Nathan were a family. He may not think they were yet, but they were. Karen and Keith didn't need to be together in order for them to be a family. Keith glanced at his watch a little while later.

"It's almost 6. We should get going. Dinner should be almost done, it started at 5." he said.

"Alright." Karen said grabbing her purse and smoothing her black dress down. Nathan took Haley's hand and together they walked to Keith's car. The two teenagers hopped into the backseat and then Keith drove off. When they pulled up in front of Dan's house everyone sighed audibly.

"Let's get this over with." Keith said.

The four of them stood at the front door after ringing the doorbell. Deb answered a couple minutes later.

"Hi, everyone I'm glad you could make it." she said.

"Sorry we're late. We had other obligations for dinner Deb." Keith said hugging his sister in law.

"Oh its not a problem Keith. You wouldn't have wanted to be here anyways. It was pretty intense." she said stepping aside so they could enter the house.

"Deb this is Nathan's girlfriend Haley James." Karen said introducing Haley to Deb officially.

"Oh, nice to meet you Haley. That is a beautiful dress by the way." she said.

"Thank you Mrs Scott. You have a beautiful home." she said smiling at the older woman.

"Well enjoy yourselves. Lucas is around here somewhere." Deb said moving on to mingle with some other guests.

"We're going to the bar. We'll catch you later Nate." Karen said as she and Keith moved to the bar. Nathan took Haley's hand and started walking around the party.

"Nathan. You came." Dan said stopping in front of him.

"We thought we should. Keith and my mom are here too." he said.

"Haley. How are you?" he asked.

"I'm fine." she said uncomfortable. She knew Dan Scott hated her. Nathan led her away looking for people they knew. Nathan saw Lucas off to the side drinking.

"Hi. Lucas how's it going?" Nathan said when they moved to stand beside him.

"My dad's an ass. He's not so bad tonight because everyone is here to see him. No one cares about anything but Dan Scott tonight, and that's the way he likes it." Lucas said bitterly.

"That's Dan for you." Nathan said.

"Yeah. All through dinner tonight he picked on how I am not nowhere as good at basketball as him. And how even you are better than me and you didn't have him to coach you through all the years. It was funny at dinner thought, it was unspoken that you are the best player Tree Hill has ever seen. Good for you Nathan." he said draining his cup.

"Lucas. You don't need to drink." Haley said taking his cup.

"I know. I just- I envy Nathan." Lucas said unsure if he could explain it.

"Why do you envy me? You're the one that grew up with the father, the fancy house and the popularity." Nathan asked.

"Because the father is an ass. My parents are either not here or fighting. My mom is always working. You're mom works hard and is successful, yet she's at home with you every evening. Keith is a better father than Dan ever is. He is caring, and he is actually there for you. I don't even know him. Sure the house is nice, but it holds so many bad memories. The popularity? Sure I'm popular but I don't have what you have. I don't have friends that are there for me. Everyone is around me because I'm Dan Scott's prodigal son. You have close friends and someone who loves you unconditionally. I envy that most of all. So many girls want me and of course I date them, have fun with them until I'm bored. That's what I do. But I've never had someone there for me for everything the way Haley is for you. I've never had someone who loves me regardless of everything. That is what I want most, and that is what you have. I envy that." Lucas said.

"Wow. You're right though. I've always known my life is better than yours. For one, if it had been me where you are, I wouldn't have Haley. And she is the best thing in my life." Nathan said wrapping his arm around her shoulder and squeezing her softly. She smiled up at him, which caused butterflies to flutter in his stomach. That was one of those things that always happened she was around. Something as simple as a smile caused butterflies to appear.

"well I better go mingle. After all I am the prodigal son of Dan Scott." Lucas said sarcastically.

"Alright. I'll see you later Luke." Nathan said and he pulled Haley to the bar.

"Can we get two cokes?" Nathan asked the bartender.

"Of course." she said pouring two drinks.

"Wow. Not trying to get alcohol? Where's the other Nathan Scott I know?" she asked good naturedly.

"He's staying sober tonight, because I want to have a good time with my girlfriend. You know I realized something. We haven't actually went out to a group outing since we started dating. I want to show off my beautiful girlfriend." he said leaning in to kiss her cheek.

"You are a smooth talker. I love it. I would do anything you say. You have some sort of bizarre power over me Scott." she said mock glaring at him.

"I think its called love. Because you have the same power over me." he said taking her hand. They walked back into what used to be a dining room, but was transformed into a dance floor for Dan's party. They were watching couples dance. Nathan's eyes widened when he saw his mom dancing with Keith. She was laughing, the sight made Nathan feel happy. They were standing there watching them dance, Haley rested her head on Nathan's shoulder. He stared at her lovingly. It was clear to everyone in the room that the young couple was so in love. After the song was over, "Look at me." by Carrie Underwood came on and Nathan took Haley's hand to lead her on the dance floor. She grinned up at him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I love this song." she said resting her head on his chest.

"It's almost as beautiful as you." he said twining his hands around her waist.

"Darling look at me. I've fallen like a fool for you. Darling cant you see? I'd do anything you want me to. I tell myself , I'm in too deep. But then I fall a little farther. Every time you look at me. " she sang along with the chorus, loving how true it rang out. He smiled down at her, and softly touched his lips to hers. The kiss was so soft, so tender but yet all the love he had for her poured out of him into the kiss. After dancing to a few more songs, Karen and Keith came to find the two in love teenagers.

"Hey, are you guys ready to head out?" she asked.

"Sure." Nathan said. They went and grabbed Haley's sweater from where they stored their jackets and walked out to Keith's truck. Once they were back at the café, Nathan took Haley's hand and led her to the rooftop.

"I thought maybe we could hang out up here for a bit before I take you home." he said.

"Sounds perfect. I really loved dancing with you tonight." she said wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her head in his chest.

"I love anytime we get to spend together. Hales, you're it for me. I know it." he said leaning down to kiss her softly. He clicked play on the stereo and yet another beautiful love song came through the speakers. They swayed softly to the music of "You had me from hello" by Kenny Chesney.

"I really love this song." Haley sighed, loving being in Nathan's arms, all warm and safe.

"This song almost perfectly described how I feel about you. From the first time I saw you when we were 4, I was hooked. And now at 17 I have more love in my heart for you than I ever thought possible. And it grows everyday." he said. She felt a tear trickle down her cheek as his beautiful words.

"Nathan I love you so much You're it for me too. I'm sure of it." she said reaching up to kiss him. After swaying and kissing for a few more minutes, they stopped.

"I should probably take you home." he said. She nodded and he took her hand and led her down the stairs.

"Mom, I'm taking Haley home. Then I'm going home." he said.

"Alright. I'll see you at home soon Nathan." she said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we hear an wedding announcement coming from the two of them soon." Keith said as they watched the young couple walk away.

"I agree. I watched them tonight, and I've never seen anything like that before. They're so in love." she said.

When Nathan pulled up in front of Haley's house, he walked her to her door.

"Tonight was perfect Nathan." she said.

"Every night with you is perfect. I love you so much Hales. I'll see you at school tomorrow." he said kissing her lips softly.

"I love you too." she said before opening her door and locking it behind her.

"How was you're night sweetheart." her dad asked from the living room. She walked into the living room to find her mom and dad sitting on the couch waiting up for her.

"It was perfect. I think I finally know what it feels like to have what you and dad have. I'm so in love with Nathan right now. He's it for me." she said before turning to go to bed.


	10. Chapter 10

sorry for the late update. dont blame you if you all hate me. sorry for the crappy chapter, sadly enough i almost cried while writing it. hope you enjoy it. chapter is more drama filled than others. Let me know what you all think. hoping to have the next chapter out in a few days.

PS i own nothing.

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"Morning Lydia. Haley here?" Nathan asked walking right into the kitchen.

"I think she's still sleeping. Go on up." Lydia said. Nathan smiled and went up the stairs in the familiar direction of Haley's bedroom, the one room in the world he has probably spent just as much time in as his own. He opened the door slightly and found her curled up in bed sound asleep. He smiled at the sight in front of him, she looked so beautiful and innocent while asleep. He tiptoed over to the side of her bed and kissed her softly. Her eyes fluttered open at the first touch of his lips on hers.

"You know I'm not Sleeping Beauty right?" she asked when she awoke to his kiss.

"could have fooled me. You were sleeping and you're beautiful." he said sliding into the bed next to her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Hiding. Dan is looking for me. Something about being his only hope for a basketball legacy since Lucas is useless." he explained.

"Oh. Want me to deal with him?" she asked her eyes twinkling.

"No. Lets just ignore him." he said.

"Okay. What do you want to do then?" she asked curling into him on her bed. "I like this. Let's do this for a while longer." he said.

"Sounds good to me. Can we kiss though? Or do we just have to cuddle?" she asked her eyes twinkling.

"Kissing sounds good to me." he said right before kissing her. Their lips moved together slowly, just enjoying the taste of each other, when Nathan's cell phone started ringing.

"Damn it." he said pulling away from her and pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Hello?" he greeted.

"Nathan. Will you please just play basketball with Dan for one day please. He's been here torturing me and Keith all morning. Please Nathan. Just once. I promise he wont treat you badly." Karen begged her son

"Alright. For you I will do it. I'll see you soon." he said hanging up and turning to Haley.

"I'm sorry baby but I have to go. I have to do something for my mom." he said wincing.

"Oh okay. I'll see you later." she said.

"Yeah." he replied kissing her forehead before walking out.

Nathan drove home and seen Dan's SUV in the driveway. Reluctantly he climbed out and walked into the house. "Nathan, you showed up." Dan greeted.

"Yeah. I'm doing this for my mom." he said leaving no room for assumption.

"Fine. Let's go. I have a schedule set up for you and everything. You'll be the best player anyone has ever seen Nathan. I should have chosen you from the beginning." Dan said following him out to his car.

"wait a minute. I'm only doing this once. Only today." Nathan said.

"Oh no. It's going to be a continuous coaching thing. I am now your basketball coach. If you don't do this with me, that little girlfriend of yours? Well you never know what I'm capable of." he said sneering at his now favorite son.

"You better not lay a hand on Haley ever. I swear to God Dan if you touch her…" he trailed off.

"Don't worry Nathan. As long as your with me at my hoop in my yard at my house everyday, and your girlfriend stays out of basketball, then nothing will happen to her." he promised. "You're blackmailing me." Nathan said.

"I know. I knew you wouldn't agree to do this any other way." he said smiling at him. When they arrived Nathan got out of the car and walked over to the partial court Dan had set up in his driveway. Dan tossed the ball at him and the minute Nathan caught it, he could almost see all his free time with Haley go away. What was worse was that he was going to have to lie to her about it. If he didn't she would come and Dan wouldn't allow that.

Haley sat around at home, waiting for Nathan to call. She started wondering what Karen needed him to do, but completely sure that she trusted him unconditionally she opted not to call her. Nathan had nothing to hide from her, she had no right to be suspicious.

By the time Nathan got home that night, he was tired, sore and grumpy. He checked his cell and saw 6 unread messages from Haley. He started reading through them, he hated how Dan made him waste his entire day with him instead of his beautiful girlfriend. Her messages showed that she missed him all day. She had asked him to come over, but right now all he wanted was to sleep. So he typed back a quick reply.

"Hey. Sorry I didn't call. I was busy. I'm going to get to bed, I'll try to see you tomorrow." the message said. Once he finished, he climbed into bed and turned off the light falling asleep immediately.

Haley was laying in bed when she got his message. On one hand she was relieved that nothing happened to him. But on the other hand she was pissed that he hadn't bothered to reply earlier. She wondered what had kept him so busy all day and he hadn't even bothered to invite her along. And what was it about trying to see her tomorrow? There were so many parts of his message that made no sense to her at all, but she decided to ignore it, bury it thinking everything would be better the next day.

Dan was there to pick him up at 8 o clock the next morning and reluctantly Nathan went to his house with him again.

"You know I didn't get to see Haley at all last night because of you." Nathan said angrily.

"That's better for you Nathan. A girl is just a distraction." he explained.

"Lets just get this over with." Nathan said wanting to get out of there. Dan ran him hard yet again today and by the time it was getting dark and Dan drove him home, it was yet again too late to go see Haley.

"Okay, I know you have school tomorrow so I'll pick you up at 7 for an early morning practice, and at lunch for a short one, and then after school." he said dropping Nathan off at his house.

"I cant do after school tomorrow." Nathan said.

"Oh and why not?" Dan asked.

"Haley and I always have plans Monday after school. And I cant do mornings before school at all, because I drive Haley to school in the morning." he said.

"Well she can drive herself for right now. Or she could walk, it wouldn't hurt her one bit to get you and walk somewhere." Dan said snidely.

"Don't talk about Haley like that." Nathan warned Dan.

"Lets not talk about her at all. I'll see you tomorrow morning son." he said letting Nathan out. Like last night, he practically crawled into the house and flopped down on his bed falling asleep immediately.

Haley sat at home growing really worried about Nathan. He didn't call her at all today, and that worried her. She turned out her light hoping he was alright, and sort of excited for tomorrow. It was Monday, it was movie night at the rooftop. He would never miss that, she told herself. The next morning after her shower she went back into her room to find something to wear. While she was changing she glanced at her phone seeing one unread message. She opened it relieved to find it was from Nathan. "Hey Hales. I cant pick you up today. I have something to do." the message said. By this point she was sick of the vague explanations of where he was and what he was doing. Not happy, she walked downstairs into the kitchen where her mom was sitting drinking a cup of coffee.

"Hey mom, do you think you could drive me to school today. Nathan cant do it today." she said some of her irritation coming through her voice. In her opinion there was no reason whatsoever that a guy should leave a girl with no answers for almost three days. She hadn't heard from him since Saturday morning and was starting to get peeved.

"sure. What's Nathan doing?" she asked picking up on Haley's sour mood.

"I don't know. All I know is that he cant come pick me up because he has stuff to take care of." she said using a fair amount of sarcasm. Lydia looked at her daughter and saw underneath the mask of annoyance she wore, she was hurt. But she knew and trusted Nathan, and knew that whatever it was that he was up to, it was important. Lydia just hoped Haley could see that. She grabbed her keys and led Haley out the door and drove her to school.

When Haley got to school there was still no sign of Nathan, no car in the parking lot no nothing. She sighed and went to sit at their table. She sat at the table alone all morning until the bell rang. By this point her anger was growing at an alarming rate. But a large part of herself was worried for him too, it wasn't normal for him to just fall off the edge of the earth. At lunch when she left her class and walked out to their table, there was no Nathan at the table. She sat down thinking maybe he was just running late, but when the bell rang, it was clear he just wasn't there.

"Maybe he's sick and didn't want to worry me." she suggested to herself. But something else told her that there was something different, something bigger was going on with Nathan.

That evening when she went to the café to their rooftop, she waited. She looked at her watch and saw that over an hour had passed, he had never blown her off before, and that was exactly what this was. He was blowing her off, no messages, no calls, no nothing. Sick of waiting she went home and sat up in her room. She was too angry to cry so she just sat there staring at the phone in her room. She heard someone knock on her door and she turned to see her mom walk in.

"Heard from Nathan yet?" she asked sitting on the edge of Haley's bed.

"No. And its really pissing me off." she said honestly.

"I know. But its Nathan, I'm sure that he has a good reason for being absent." she said.

"Three days mom. Three days. What kind of excuse could he have to ignoring me for three days?" she asked incredulously.

"I don't know baby girl, you should let him explain." she said.

"I would love to, but hey he's never around. I know, I'm going to his house to wait for him. He's got to go home eventually." she said grabbing her purse. Lydia handed her the keys to her car and watched her daughter leave.

Haley parked on the street in front of Nathan's house, she knew his mom was still at the café so she walked over to the door on the side that led directly into Nathan's bedroom. She grew angrier when she saw that he wasn't there. She was already mad enough but she just kept getting madder. She went and sat on the chair in front of his computer waiting.

After yet another horrific day with Dan he finally got home. He was relieved that Dan had allowed him to drive himself to and from his house today on the promise that Nathan didn't leave until he had permission. Not noticing the car parked a little ways away he walked right into the front door stopping at the kitchen for water on his way to his bedroom.

Haley heard him come in the house, she could tell it was him by the way he shuffled his feet across the floor. She knew everything about him, even the way he walked. She decided it must come with a lifetime of friendship. When she saw the door open and Nathan walk through the door, her anger was like an explosion. While she was relieved he was fine, her anger just exploded inside of her, all her worry and fear turned into anger. He looked shocked to see her sitting in his room and he rubbed his eyes.

"Hey Hales." he said walking over to kiss her. She refused to kiss him back, and he knew something was wrong.

"Haley what's wrong?" he asked sinking down on his bed tired.

"What's wrong? You honestly want to ask me that? What's wrong? Lets start with this, how about my boyfriend disappeared for three days. The only times I heard from him was when he was opting out of doing something with me. Or how about I waited at the rooftop for over and hour tonight and you never showed up. No text, no call. Nothing. That really pissed me off. You leave me Saturday morning with a vague "I have to take care of something for my mom." and here you are three days later. You never called me, you just left me stupid vague text messages. And you actually have the nerve to ask me what's wrong." she yelled.

"Haley you need to calm down please." he said rubbing his neck, just wanting some sleep.

"Calm down. You did not just tell me to calm down. Did it occur to you I might be worried about you? That I could be sitting at home wondering what happened to you. But still trusting you implicitly. I think that might have been a mistake. Trusting you." she said calming down slightly.

"Haley you can still trust me." he tried to convince her.

"Can I? Can I trust you Nathan. If so, where were you for the past three days?" she asked eyes tearing up slightly.

"I cant tell you. It doesn't really matter where I was Haley." he said feeling defeated.

"Then you clearly don't trust me. Or maybe you do, and instead you were doing something you're not proud of. Which leads me to one thing, I cant trust you. And if I cant trust you, then what am I doing here?" she asked rhetorically.

"Haley don't leave. Please." he asked seeing what she didn't say between her words.

"I have to. There's nothing here for me." she said grabbing her jacket and walking out the door.


	11. Chapter 11

Nathan collapsed into bed once Haley left, he didn't know what just happened. He didn't understand it. How could he? She said she couldn't trust him, he didn't understand how she got to that point. All he did was protect her from his father, he thought that was the right thing to do. She didn't know what Dan could do, what Dan was capable of. He hated the way she looked at him, she honestly stared at him like she didn't even know him. After a friendship that spanned 13 years, she knew him. She knew him better than anyone else on the planet. She just didn't believe that. Three days changed her entire perspective on him, and he didn't know what he did to cause that.

Angrily Haley stalked into her house and went up the stairs. She was officially even more pissed than ever before, he didn't even attempt to explain himself. It was like he didn't even care. After 13 years of friendship and a few weeks of dating he should at least care. But he didn't, and that confused her. She didn't understand him and she had a feeling she never would.

The next morning, Nathan woke up still feeling tired after a full night of sleep. He spent the entire night thinking about Haley, he couldn't help but feel Dan ruined everything. Nathan pulled up in front of Dan's house and got out, Dan was as usual waiting out by they hoop, and if he noticed Nathan foul mood he never said anything.

"Are you ready for this?" Dan asked when Nathan stopped by him.

"Whatever." Nathan said grabbing the ball out of Dan's hand. A force overtook Nathan and he put all his aggression into basketball. He hated Dan Scott, and that was the only thought going through his head. Dan Scott was the source of all his problems. Dan Scott forced him to lie to his girlfriend, who at this point may or may not still be his girlfriend. When it was time to go to school he tossed the ball to Dan.

"what is your problem Nathan?" Dan asked.

"Every problem in my life is your fault Dan. It's your fault that I may or may not have a girlfriend anymore. It's your fault she may never speak to me again. I hate you. And I quit. I will not work with you anymore. You've caused enough problems for me. Go back to Lucas. Or better yet don't. because neither of us want you in our lives." he yelled. Dan just stood there and took it which pissed Nathan off even more. Instead of doing something he might regret he turned and walked away. He climbed in his car and sped away leaving Dan behind in a cloud of dust. He drove to school and parked, he didn't see Haley anywhere. He sat down at their table and waited for her, hoping she would show up. He knew he needed to talk to her, he didn't know what to tell her but regardless he needed to talk to her. When the bell rang he realized she was either not coming to school of she was already in class. Both were equally possible situations.

Haley sat in her math class studying. She didn't want to see Nathan, she wasn't sure how she felt about him at the moment. Even though she was mad at him, she still wanted him to come to her and explain things to her. She felt she deserved that much, and if he loved her she though he'd come and talk to her. She didn't want it to end without her knowing what happened to him. Despite her anger, she still worried about what he was doing. When the bell rang she organized her stuff as the rest of the class came in. The rest of the day went by slowly. She ate lunch with Nathan at their table, but neither of them spoke a single word. She couldn't find anything to say to him and he didn't know what to say to her. To say the least it was a awkward lunch and when the bell rang Haley fled the table. Nathan watched her leave, before walking the opposite direction to his class.

When the day was over Nathan drove home, glad he didn't have to go to Dan's anymore, wishing he'd quit much earlier. He walked in the front door and saw no one was there. Knowing he didn't have Haley to help him with his homework he went straight to work on it, missing their daily homework dates.

Haley went to the café to do her shift. When she walked in Karen looked up at her and smiled.

"Hello Haley how are you today?" she asked when Haley came to stand behind the counter.

"Oh. Not too bad. I happen to dislike your son though." she said still angry.

"What did he do?" Karen asked.

"He has avoided me for the past three days. And he wont explain where he went." she said.

"I'll talk to him tonight." Karen promised.

"It's not necessary. We'll get through it." she said.

"Are you sure Haley?" Karen asked concerned.

"Yeah. If I'm still not happy tomorrow then you can talk to him." she bargained.

"Deal. My son is an idiot sometimes, but he'll figure out his mistake soon enough." she assured Haley. Haley nodded and started working.

Nathan sat at home for the rest of the evening. He didn't know what to say to Haley, and he decided that the best plan would be to just avoid her until he figured out what to say. He couldn't tell her what happened because he couldn't trust Dan not to target Haley. He didn't want to lie to her either. He was in an impossible situation and he didn't know how to get out of it. Him and Haley had been through so much to get to where they are now, and he didn't want to lose that. She meant too much to him, he couldn't bare to lose her. Growing bored of NBA live, it wasn't as much fun when Haley wasn't there playing against him and usually winning, he drove to the Rivercourt, hoping shooting around a little bit would give him some idea of what he had to do. The court gave him peace and serenity while he was there but it didn't give him any answers.

"How's it going?" Lucas asked walking towards him.

"Let's see here, Dan is an ass and my girlfriend isn't speaking to me." Nathan said.

"I know Dan's an ass and why is Haley not speaking to you?" Lucas asked.

"Because Dan's an ass." Nathan explained.

"I see. How's practice going with him? I definitely don't envy you one bit." Lucas said.

"There is no more practice with Dan. I quit. He caused all my problems I'm not going to let him turn everyone else against me too." he said bitterly. "Don't let him. He's just one person he cant ruin everything for you." Lucas insisted.

"You clearly don't know him then. Haley is everything to me and now she wont even talk to me because I've avoided her for the past three days because I was with Dan." he said angrily.

"You'll deal with it. You always do. I've always envied that about you. For you everything eventually works itself out." he said slapping his shoulder once before walking away. Nathan watched him leave, for once actually thankful for Lucas. Lucas made some fairly good points.

Later that night Haley went home. She was mad again, because Nathan never came by the café, he never went to her house to find her. He never even called. Her mom and dad were waiting for her when she walked through the door.

"How was work?" her mom asked.

"Fine." Haley answered.

"How's it going with Nathan?" Lydia asked knowing that was the more pressing question.

"Not fine. It's over. For good. After everything I've felt for him, we cant go back to being friends. And I cant trust him. You cant build a relationship without trust. Its impossible. He still hasn't even made the attempt to talk to me, so its over. I cant do it. I wont wait for him to make an effort. First there was the three days where he was out doing God knows what with who knows who, and then there's today when I've seen him around but he walks in the opposite direction. Or we sat together at lunch today but didn't say a word. That would've been an excellent time for him to explain where he was, but no. he didn't do it. So yeah, it was a hard decision but its over." she said angrily but there was an evident tinge of sadness.

"I'm sorry baby. It's hard to lose someone you love." she told her daughter. "It is. I'm going to bed." she said walking up the stairs.

Nathan went home after the Rivercourt and collapsed into bed. He knew he was wasting valuable time in getting Haley back but he still didn't know what to say to her. The only thing he could tell her that wasn't a lie would be that he loved her. That would never change. But at this point, he didn't know where he stood with her, or even if she ever wanted to see him again. He didn't realize that three days could break his relationship with Haley. Granted they were three days with Dan, things tended to get ruined when Dan Scott was around. The next morning came and Nathan climbed out of bed and went to school, resolved to talking to Haley. Throughout the night, he decided that the pain of losing Haley was too much to bear, he decided he would tell her the whole truth and just protect her from Dan, if it was necessary. Nathan didn't think Dan would actually do anything, he was mostly all talk. When he got to school there was no sign of Haley. He sat at their table and waited.

Haley got up that morning and went downstairs to tell her mom that she wasn't going to school. Lydia nodded because it was Haley and if she didn't feel like going to school there was a very good reason for it.

"Can I borrow you're car though for a little while though?" Haley asked.

"Where are you going?" Lydia asked.

"I just need to do something. I wont be too long." she said.

"Ok honey." she said handing the keys to Haley. Haley drove to the café and unlocked the door before climbing the stairs to the rooftop. She stared at everything they did to make it look at this and realized that she would probably never come here again.

Karen arrived at the café and opened up for the morning. She never noticed the car parked outside. Customers immediately started flooding in and Karen was busy. It until one of her customers asked about the noise coming from the rooftop that Karen finally noticed.

"I don't know what it is, I'll be right back." Karen said to the customer who asked. She made sure all her customers had everything they needed for a couple minutes and climbed the stairs. She opened the door to the rooftop to find Haley shoving everything from the rooftop into the shed, effectively tearing apart everything her and Nathan had ever accomplished up there.

"Haley what are you doing?" Karen asked alarm seeing Haley's teary face.

"It's over. Everything is over." she said continuing to shove the chairs into the shed.

"What's over?" Karen asked walking over to Haley and putting her arm around the young girls shoulder. "Everything. Nathan and I. Our friendship, you relationship. It's all over." she said.

"I take it he didn't talk to you last night?" Karen asked pulling Haley down to sit on the ground with her.

"No. he didn't even attempt. I mean I was in the café all last night, I seen him walk by once on his way to the Rivercourt. He never called my house, or stopped by. You want to know what I think?" she asked crying. "What?" Karen asked rubbing Haley's back.

"I think he doesn't care anymore. I think he's moved on. I think he found someone knew." she said.

"You think he's cheating on you?" Karen clarified. "Yeah. I honestly do. I mean what other reason is there why you would disappear for three days and avoid me every other day since that's the only thing that makes sense. Know what hurts the most though?" she asked.

"what?" Karen asked.

"The fact that he said he loved me more than anything, the day he disappeared. He said he loved me, and know I know it was a lie. Maybe the entire relationship was a lie." she sobbed. "It wasn't a lie Haley. He loved you and you loved him. You should go home okay. Take the night off and just go home. I just want you to feel better, I'll close the café early tonight." she said.

"Okay. Thanks Karen." Haley said standing up. Karen stood up with her and pulled Haley to her.

"My son is an idiot. I'm so angry at him for doing this to you." she said hugging the young girl. Haley nodded and followed Karen down the stairs. Karen went back to serving her customers and Haley drove home.

Nathan went home after school, after not seeing Haley all day. He briefly considered calling her to see if she was sick, but thought against it. She wouldn't talk to him over the phone. Apologies were something to be done in person not over the phone. Knowing she worked tonight, he left the house and drove to the café. He was surprised when he saw the "closed" sign on the door. The lights were off and the doors locked, so he drove home. He saw his moms car in the driveway he walked through the front door.

"Hey mom, why's the café closed tonight?" he asked sitting down at the table.

"You don't know?" she asked.

"My guess would be Haley's sick." he said.

"Well how about this. You drive to the café right now, and go to the rooftop, and then come back here and tell me why the café's closed tonight." Karen said staring at her son.

"Okay." Nathan said shocked at the anger in his moms voice. He got in his car and drove back to the café. One of his moms regular evening customers was standing by the door.

"Evening Nathan. The café closed tonight I see." he said.

"Yeah. Haley's sick." he said.

"Oh. Poor girl. I heard from my wife she was pretty distraught this morning. Hope she feels better soon." he said climbing back into his car. Nathan used his key to unlock the door. He didn't turn on any lights as he could find his way to the stairs in his sleep. When he opened the door to the rooftop, he seen it completely cleaned out. He couldn't believe it. He seen the shed door bulging open. He also saw a sheet of paper stuck between the handles. He walked over to it and unfolded it.

_Nathan._

_I don't need you to explain to me what happened. I have a pretty good idea of what it was. As you can see I cleaned up the rooftop. We wont need it anymore. You can take your stuff and I'll come back tomorrow and take mine. It's all in the shed. I think you know where I'm going with this. But I need to say it anyways. It's completely over. We cant be together because I cant trust you. It all comes down to trust. And we cant be friends because I cant go back to the way it used to be. It'll be impossible. I'm sorry. I never wanted this to happen, but it's the way it needs to be. We'll see each other at school and it'll be awkward for a while, but eventually the hurt will stop and we'll just stop. It'll be over we wont talk or smile or anything. For that I'm sorry. I still love you and I always will but this is the end. Everything ends someday and we end now. I'm sorry. Good bye._

_Haley._

_He read and reread the note over and over again, trying to grasp what she was saying. It didn't take much to figure out that she was more hurt than he ever realized. He wondered if she knew about Dan, and was upset that he kept it from her. He wondered what would make her leave him. Thirteen years of friendship and they didn't even have that anymore. It hurt. He walked down the stairs and back to his car. He drove home and wasn't looking forward to finishing his earlier conversation with his mom. But Karen was for him in the kitchen when he walked through the door. _

"_You understand now?" she asked, calmer now than when he'd left. "No I don't understand." he said clutching the note. _

"_You hurt her. You broke her heart. She may be irreparably damaged." Karen said. _

"_I still don't understand why she ended it. She could have talked to me." he said. "She ended it because she didn't trust you. She's positive you're cheating on her. It's the only thing that makes sense to her right now. Are you?" Karen asked her earlier anger resurfacing at the thought of her son cheating on his girlfriend. _

"_What? No! I would never cheat on her." he said. _

"_Then where were you?" Karen asked. _

"_I was with Dan. He forced me to let him be my basketball coach. And he took all my time, when I was done I only had the energy to type out a quick text to Haley. I can understand where she's coming from because I did avoid her a little bit. Dan threatened her, I couldn't risk anything happening to her. I had to lie. I had to hide it from her. I had to protect her." he said. "Why didn't you tell me?" Karen asked. _

"_I never saw you. By the time I got home I was so tired I fell straight to sleep. Then first thing in the morning I was back at Dan's. I would've told you but I never seen you." he said defeated. "I'm sorry. Haley deserves to know though. You have to tell you Nathan. She thinks you cheated on her and its has broken her." Karen said laying her hand on her sons arm. _

" _I don't know what to say to her. I don't know how to fix this. I don't know if I can." he said a single tear rolling down his face. _

"_Just speak from the heart. Tell her the truth." Karen assured him. Nathan nodded and ran out the door considering Haley just lived down the street from him, and he needed the time to think about what to say. _

_Jimmy and Lydia were sitting on the couch, worried about Haley. Haley was sitting on the reclining chair completely silent. She was reading a book, but hadn't flipped the page in ten minutes. It was clear she wasn't actually reading. She was just existing. They didn't know what was wrong, and they couldn't ask her, because she just smiled a feeble smile and told them everything was fine. The tense silence was broken with the doorbell. Jimmy got up and answered it. "hey is Haley here, I really need to talk to her." Nathan said. "She's in the living room. I don't know what's wrong with her Nathan. I've never seen her more broken." he said glancing at his daughter who had yet to remove her eyes from the book in front of him. _

"_I do. I know what's wrong with her, and we really need to talk about it." he said. _

"_If anyone can fix her, its you. Come on in." he said stepping aside. He walked over to where she was sitting, he kneeled down by the chair. _

"_Hey, we really need to talk." he said taking her hand. She snatched her hand back and got up off the chair, showing the first emotion Jimmy and Lydia had seen all day. _

"_Hales, you have to talk to me." he called as she walked towards the stairs. _

"_No, how about I avoid you, didn't you get my note. It's over Nathan." she said. _

"_Yeah, I got your note. The note is a bunch of crap. We have to talk." he said walking towards the stairs. _

" _I do not want to talk to you." she said slipping past him again. _

"_You don't really have the option. You don't even have to say a word. I'm going to talk to you, and if you still feel the same way you can tell me to go home and I'll leave you alone. But you have to hear what I have to say." he said softly. _

"_I really don't want to hear this right now. I need some fresh air." she said some fresh tears pooling in the corner of her eyes. Nathan sighed and walked out into the living room. _

"_This isn't going the way I planned it." Nathan said. "It's okay. At least she's showing some emotion now. It may be mostly hurt and pain disguised at anger but at least its something." Lydia assured him. _

"_Yeah. I'm going to try once more." he said. When they nodded he walked out the front door and found her sitting on the porch swing. _

"_Why wont you leave me alone, and go back to whoever it is that you've been spending all your time with." she said defeated. _

"_You mean Dan?" he asked standing in front of her. "Dan?" she asked looking up. _

"_Yeah, for the three days I was AWOL I was being forced to play basketball with Dan. He made me keep it from you. Haley I would never ever under any circumstances cheat on you. Hurting you like that would only hurt me. I'm too selfish to put myself through that kind of hurt. I love you Haley, and I understand if you need time to sort through everything I just told you. But know that I love you and I'll always be here waiting." he said. _


	12. Chapter 12

Hope you dont hate me for the long update time. i couldnt find inspirtation. the muse was not working. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Let me know what you think

PS i own nothing.

* * *

Completely not expecting you to call after him, he turned and began walking back to his truck. He hoped she would, but didn't expect it. She was silent, after listening to what he had to say, and at this point the wasn't sure if she would forgive him. He had led her to believe that he was cheating on her, as crazy as that sounded. It's what she thought, and he knew just how insecure Haley could be at times, so needless to say he wasn't expecting her to call out to him. But that's just what she did.

"Nathan, wait." Haley said getting off the porch swing and jogging towards him. Hopefully, Nathan turned towards her, he totally expected her to keep her distance for at least the rest of the night, and possibly longer.

"You were with Dan for the past three days? You're not just saying that to cover up something you did?" she asked fearfully.

"I was just with Dan. I promise you Haley, I would never hurt you like that. It would only hurt me." he said.

"Okay." she said smiling slightly at him.

"Okay?" he asked.

"Okay. As in, okay, I forgive you. And I'm sorry about today. Honestly." she said keeping her distance.

"That's good to hear. But you have nothing to be sorry for Hales. I'm the one that screwed up." he told her tentatively taking a step forward and taking her hand. When she didn't pull away, he laced their fingers together.

"Just don't do anything like that again. I know you want to protect me, and I love you for that. But don't keep me at arms length. Let me in. I want us to be able to deal with things together. Dan isn't just your problem. He's hurting you therefore he's hurting me. We can deal with it together, or better yet we can ignore him. He doesn't need to be part of our lives. Keep him out. Not me." she told him rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb.

"I know. I'm sorry Haley. It's just that its in my nature to deal with things alone. I always have, with the one exception being the time when we were really young when you yelled at Dan for me. But other than that I don't want to get you involved. I don't know what Dan is capable of. And I wont put you through something like that. I wont." he said.

"Don't deal with it yourself. You don't need to. I'm not afraid of Dan, and I don't want you dealing with him on your own. You're problems are my problems. We need to get through them together. I enjoyed yelling at him then, and I'm sure I'd enjoy it now. Let me help you. Or better yet, my other suggestion, don't associate with him at all. But in order for this relationship to work, you have to let me in. This can't be onesided, I let you in most of the time. I need you to do the same for me" she told him bringing her other hand up to stroke his cheek.

"Okay. I'll let you in. I love you too much to lose you Haley." he told her with the emotion clear in his voice,

"Okay." she said walking forward and wrapping her arms around his waist, burrowing her face in his chest. Instinctively he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to his body. They stayed like that for a few minutes before she lifted her chin and tenderly pressed her lips to his. He returned the kiss eagerly, wanting to demonstrate through his kiss how much he cared about her. How much he loved her. She opened her mouth, and Nathan took the invitation and slid his tongue between her parted lips. Their tongues tangled languidly, both enjoying the slow, tender pace their kissing had adopted. They kissed for a couple moments before the sound of Haley's parents interrupted them.

" As happy as I am for you two making up. I don't think you should be making out in the front yard." Jimmy called from the living room window which he opened so he could talk to the two teenagers making out on his lawn. Haley pulled away from Nathan immediately embarrassed and he just wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Do you guys want some hot chocolate? I was just going to make some." Lydia called from the window having joined her husband standing there.

"Sure." Haley said as she took Nathan's arm from around her waist and laced their fingers together. She pulled him into the house and they spent the rest of the evening as they had many times together. Just spending time together, watching movies and drinking hot chocolate with her parents.

He woke up the next morning to see his mom standing in his doorway with a small smile on her face. Nathan knew that smile, that smile said that if you don't tell me what I want to hear right now I will ground you for life.

"Morning mom." he greeted, not wanting to talk until he knew what she wanted him to say.

"So, how did it go last night? I was already in bed when you got in last night. Did you fix your massive screwup with Haley?" she asked the small smile still in place.

"Yeah. It's all good now. She forgave me when I told her I was with Dan for the three days. We're back to normal now." he said. Karen's smile turned broader.

"Good boy. Now I don't have to ground you for hurting my favorite person." she said.

"Oh right. Because you like my girlfriend more than you like me." he recalled.

"Yes I do. I'm proud to admit that. Haley is the perfect human being, you on the other hand are not." she told him with a tender smile on her face, that showed just how much she loved her son.

"I can definitely feel the love mom. Maybe I should call Haley and she can make me feel better" he said faking a pout.

"You do that. You're gonna need someone to occupy you tonight, and feed you because I'm not gonna be home for dinner." she told him.

"Oh. Where are you going to be?" he asked curiously.

"Keith wants to take me out. I don't know but it kinda feels like a date." she confessed to her son.

"Mom, that's great. I have to call Haley, she'll be so excited to find out you're going on a date with Keith." he said excited.

"Calm down Nate. I kinda think you're more excited about our potential relationship that even I am." she said laughing at the happy look on her son's face.

"It's because I am. Look, you have no idea how great it would be to have you and Keith together mom. I'll finally have a family." he said.

"You've always had a family Nathan. It's just that you never had a family with a mom and a dad living together, and I'm not saying its gonna happen but I'm open to the possibility with Keith now. Thanks to that lecture you gave me a while back." she said leaning against Nathan's door.

"I know. You've done a pretty good job with me huh mom. Especially considering you raised me on your own." he said.

"You've turned out well. I contribute that fact to Keith for helping me out with you, and a huge part goes to Haley. She's molded you into someone she wants to be seen with. Because of her, you're a good person. And an amazing son. Now get out of bed and get to the café, I don't want to work today since I have a date, so you're going for me." she told him sternly.

"Aww, Mom." he whined collapsing back into bed.

"Don't "awww mom." me Nathan, you're going to work. And I am taking a well deserved day off to pamper myself before my date. Besides, Haley's working all day today as well." she said knowing the idea of spending all day with his girlfriend would win him over.

"Alright. Fine. I will go so I can hang out with my beautiful girlfriend." he said swinging his legs out of bed and stretching. Karen smiled and left the room. A little while later he emerged freshly showered and dressed, taking a seat next to his mom.

"Alright, now I know you've spent limited time in the café actually working. So Haley will run you through everything. You will listen to everything she says and you will do whatever she tells you. Haley is the boss." Karen told her son sternly. Nathan smiled at the idea, of Haley telling him what to do. He found it kind of hot.

"Now I really don't want to know what's going on in that head of yours. But I told Haley the two of you could close the café at five. I don't expect you guys to put in more than 8 hours. The cook is there until 5." she told him.

"I got it mom. Enjoy you're day off okay. Maybe try relaxing." he told her smiling. He stood up and grabbed his keys from the table before leaning down and kissing his moms cheek,

"Have a good day working Nate." Karen said as he walked out the door waving. He drove right to the café, knowing Haley would be there already opening up. He walked in the already unlocked doors and went up to her kissing her cheek. The closed sign was still flipped and he went and helped her pull down chairs.

"How was the rest of your night after I left?" he asked as they worked.

"uh uh. Less talking more working mister. I'm the boss." she said smirking at him.

"I know my mom told me. I thought it was kinda hot, you bossing me around all day. I think I'm gonna end up regretting that idea." he told her.

"You wont, if you listen to what I have to say and do exactly what I say when I say it." she told him with a small smile pulling at the corner of her lips.

"Yes Ma'am." he said saluting her.

It didn't take long but only a short while later the café was filled with people and they were both running around armed with food and drinks. Karen's customers were always kind, and patient. Nathan loved watching Haley as she served the customers. She always had a smile ready, and more than once this morning, he saw a customer who came in upset, walk out smiling at Haley's service.

"You're really good with them, you know that?" he told her as they stood at the counter, after the morning rush trickled out.

"It's nothing. It's just good customer service." she said brushing his comment off.

"No. it's more than that. You make them feel like you care. I have seen a few people come in today obviously having a bad day. But then you talk to them and they start smiling. You are amazing Haley James." he told her.

"Well thank you. You're not so bad yourself. I havent had to yell at you all day." she told him smiling.

"That's better than even I thought. You know, I don't think there's a person on this entire planet that you couldn't make smile when their having a bad day." he told her.

"Really. Do I make you smile when you're having a bad day?" she asked him.

"Yes. You make me smile without even saying a thing. You're just here, and I have this stupid grin on my face constantly. You have me so whipped Miss James." he told her kissing her cheek.

"Nice of you to admit that Nate. But I see one person right now that I wouldn't be able to make smile." she said gesturing to the door where Dan Scott was just entering.

"I see. Let me deal with him Hales." he said, leaving no room for argument. Haley just nodded, but stayed right by his side.

"What do you want Dan?" Nathan asked.

"Is that any way to greet a paying customer Nathan?" Dan asked flashing a few dollars.

"How can I help you Mr Scott?" Haley cut in, not wanting a confrontation in the middle of the café.

"I want a coffee. Black." he said sliding the money across the counter. Haley nodded and filled a to go cup with coffee for him.

"Here you go." she said handing it to him.

"Thank you. Nathan come by to see me, and I'll help you with basketball." he said before striding out of the café.

"Ass." Haley muttered. Nathan turned to her and smiled, loving how she could be so sweet and then mutter something like "ass" to someone. They got back into the routine they had been in earlier, until it came time to close the café.

"Okay, if you want to wash the rest of the dishes, I'll clean up out here. Then we can go and hangout somewhere." she suggested.

"Sounds good minus the dishes part." he said.

"Nathan Royal Scott, take you're gorgeous ass to the kitchen and do the dishes." Haley said with her hands on her hips, taking on the stern tone Karen sometimes used with him.

"Yes, ma'am. Geez, your pushy." he said good naturedly. He ducked when she threw a balled up napkin at his head. She smiled watching him walk away, and she started washing the floor and pulling the chairs up on top of the table.

Meanwhile, Karen and Keith were in the restaurant, talking animatedly.

"You know Nathan has wanted this for so long." Karen told Keith.

"Us?" he asked curious as to what she meant.

"Yeah. He thinks we're this perfect couple. He gave me the same lecture I had given him too many times to count about Haley." she told him.

"Well then I guess we owe it to him to give this a try." he said smiling, and silently thanking Nathan, for getting Karen to go out with him.

"I think we owe it to ourselves too. Nathan is convinced that our relationship is similar to his and Haley's. and I have never seen two people more suited for each other than Haley and Nathan." she said honestly.

"I take it you were happy when they got together?" he asked.

"Ecstatic. I mean Lydia and I have always hoped and prayed our kids would fall in love. And then they did, but they wouldn't admit it. For a while we were sure they wouldn't ever take that leap. So now I guess I owe it to myself to find out what we could be. You've been in my life forever, and my best friend for so many years. It was time to see if the feelings that I have been feeling for you are actually what Nathan thinks they are." she explained.

"I'm glad you're doing this with me. Are you finished?" he asked when he seen she was no longer eating.

"Oh yeah. What do you want to do now?" she asked.

"Well, I was thinking we'd go get some ice cream and then I'd take you home being the perfect gentleman, dropping you off early." he said.

"Sounds wonderful Keith." she said smiling at the man she had loved for who knows how long.

"Are you done the dishes?" Haley asked after she had finished the dining area.

"Yeah. I hate washing dishes. I hate how wrinkly my fingers get. I hate the grimy crap on the plates. It's horrible." he whined coming out of the kitchen.

"Aww poor baby. Why didn't you wear the nice long rubber gloves sitting my the sink?" she asked trying not to laugh at the grim expression on his ridiculously handsome face.

"I didn't see them." he admitted. Haley laughed which caused Nathan's scowl to deepen, until it looked like it was permanently there.

"I promise I'll make it up to you. I'll let you take me to your house, and let you kiss me." she said.

"Oooh, promise." he said his eyes brightening at the idea of having her all to himself in his house.

"I cross my heart." she said making a show of crossing her heart.

"Good. Now do you really think I have a gorgeous ass?" he asked, smiling when her face went a deeper shade of red.

"I didn't mean that. I never said that." she denied automatically.

"Oh yes you did. You said I have a gorgeous ass." he teased.

"Did not." she insisted before starting to walk away from him.

"You so think I have a gorgeous ass. Haley thinks I have a nice ass." he chanted to himself over and lover again. Haley's face continued to get hotter and hotter the more Nathan teased her. He opened the door to his truck for her and she climbed in, intent on ignoring him and the smug look he had on his face.

The arrived at his house a couple minutes later and he opened her door and took her hand dragging her into the house. She was still intent on ignoring him, for teasing her. He saw that the blush still adorned her cheeks and he thought it quite sexy.

"You're blush is kinda hot." he noted.

"I'm ignoring you." she answered.

"Aw, why. I want to kiss you." he whined.

"Because you were teasing me." she said glaring at him.

"sorry. But in my defense you said "Get you're gorgeous ass in the kitchen and wash the dishes." he said quoting her.

"I didn't mean it like that. I meant that you're gorgeous not you're ass." she whined.

"Now I'm offended. You don't like my ass?" he mock whined.

"Of course I like it. I'm just not going to admit that out loud." she said moving closer to him.

"Good, because you have a serious ass Haley James." he said leaning in to kiss him. She reached up to cup his jaw in her hand pulling him even closer so she could deepen the kiss. Their lips moved in a rhythm as old as time, and he put his arm around her waist pulling her over to straddle his hips so he could kiss her easier. Her hands shifted down to rest on his chest. His hands gripped her hips keeping her in place as they kissed passionately.

The drive home was quick, and Karen wasn't ready to say goodnight.

"Do you want to come inside?" Karen asked.

"Ah, sure." he said getting out of the car and walking around to Karen's side. They stopped at the front door and Karen kissed Keith passionately, before unlocking the front door and walking in while still kissing Keith. Karen pushed him over to the couch and pushed him down before climbing on his lap so she could continue kissing him. Neither couple noticed the other couple in the room, since both were to involved. Feeling someone flop down onto the couch, Nathan broke away from Haley and turned the lamp on.

"Mom." Nathan said shocked.

"Nathan. Oh my God." she said not moving from Keith's lap.

"Hi, Keith." Nathan said greeting his uncle awkwardly.

"How's it going Nate, Haley." he said nodding towards the two teenagers entwined together. Haley said nothing, opting instead to burying her head in Nathan's chest, trying to block this particular memory from her mind.

"Maybe I'll get going." Haley said rising off Nathan's lap.

"Yeah. I'll drive you home." Nathan said quickly following her out of the house, eager to get away from his mom and Keith's make out session.

"So that was awkward." Haley said when they pulled up in front of her house.

"Yeah, to say the least. I never want to see my mom and Keith making out ever again. Not like that. I never want to see her straddling him on the couch ever again. It burned my eyes." he whined walking her to the door.

"I bet she felt the same after seeing up on the couch." she defended.

"she never even noticed us. She was too caught up in Keith. Ugh." he said shaking his head, obviously trying to get the image out of his head.

"Okay. Well have a good rest of the night." she said reaching up to kiss him.

"I'll try. I'm not going anywhere near the living room again tonight." he said returning her kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow. We have to put the rooftop back together." she said.

"Yeah. I'll pick you up for school. Then we can do it after school." he suggested.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you." she said kissing him again.

"Love you too." he said watching her walk in the door. He turned and walked back to his truck, insistent on avoiding his mom and Keith's PDA for the rest of his life.


	13. Chapter 13

hope you enjoy the chapter. the next few are going to be drama filled. i didnt really enjoy this chapter, so hope you feel better about it. Let me know what you think.

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Avoiding his mom and Keith's PDA was harder than it should have been. He was relieved when he walked in the house through the door attached to his bedroom, that all the lights were off in the house. Assuming he was safe he moved through the dark house to the kitchen to get a glass of water. On his way back to his room, he heard the unmistakeable squealing and giggling from two people coming from his mom's closed bedroom.

"Ugh. At least they took it to the bedroom." he muttered to himself, vowing to listen to music all night to drown out the sounds of his mom and Keith in her room.

The next morning Nathan got up earlier than usual hoping to avoid the awkward next morning encounter with Keith. His plans however weren't to be honoured and he walked into the kitchen to find him making a pot of coffee.

"Oh, hi. Good morning Nate." Keith said shocked to see Nathan up so early. He was planning on making the coffee, filling two cups and going back to bed with Karen. Not included in that plan was seeing Nathan first thing in the morning.

"Morning Keith." Nathan said uncomfortably. As happy as he was his mom and Keith were together, he had hoped they would keep all their kissing and such locked away somewhere he couldn't see them, such as Keith's apartment.

"So when did you get in last night?" Keith as wearily.

"from dropping off Haley?" Nathan asked confused, since he had been there the entire time when they walked in the door making out.

"Yeah." Keith answered.

"About 20 minutes after I left." he answered.

"Oh. I see." Keith said automatically uncomfortable.

"Oh yeah. I heard everything last night, and to be honest I never want to hear those sounds ever again. If you and my mom want to go at it, do it at your place please." he said firmly.

"Oh sure. Like you and Haley havent been caught doing anything." Keith said disbelieving.

"The furthest we've gotten is pretty passionate making out. Nothing further. She's not ready for anything more, and I'm trying to respect that." he explained.

"Good for you. I know its probably kind of hard, since before you and Haley started being together for real, you were with quite a few girls." Keith said. Nathan winced at the memory of how he used to be before him and Haley were together for real. He hated that version of himself, and he vowed to never be that person ever again, now that he had Haley.

"It's hard at times. But I know Haley, and I know how I feel about her. And I know I would never forgive myself if I ever hurt her." he said. Keith smiled at the boy he saw as his own son, the son that Dan had abandoned.

"Keith are you coming back to bed?" Karen asked from the bedroom, with a quite sultry tone to her voice.

"In a second." he called back.

"Okay. Ew. I'm leaving now, before I hear something I really don't want to hear." Nathan said, glancing at his watch and realizing it was still too early.

"See you after school Nate." Keith said.

"Haley and I are going to the rooftop after school to put it back together." he said.

"Ok, I'll tell your mom." Keith said before turning back in the direction of the bedroom. Nathan grabbed his keys and hurried out of the house. He immediately drove to Haley's house, knowing that she would be in the process of getting ready, and wouldn't have to wait too long. He walked right in the front door and into the kitchen where Jimmy and Lydia were drinking a cup of coffee.

"Good morning." he said taking a chair across the table from them.

"Ah good morning Nathan. You're here early." Lydia noted.

"Yeah. I had to get out of my house. My mom and Keith got together officially last night, which is good. But what they're doing is kind of sickening." he explained.

"Oh I see. They just love each other. Couples do crazy things when they're in love. I mean I have days when I cant keep my hands off of my Jimmy." Lydia said gazing adoringly at her husband.

"I bet Haley loves that." he said smiling at the thought of Haley avoiding her house like he was doing today.

"Oh yeah. At least we have certain days when we have our romantic rendezvous' and Haley makes herself scarce during those times." Lydia explained. "Oh. I told Keith that if they wanted to do that, do it at his house. Not at mine, I don't need to see or hear that." he said wincing at the thought. Nathan heard Haley come down the stairs.

"Nathan what are you doing here so early?" she asked happy to see her boyfriend.

"My mom and Keith were nauseating. I had to get out of there." he explained, reaching up so he could kiss her. She returned the kiss for a second, until she realized her parents were in the room. It was awkward for her to kiss her boyfriend in the presence of her parents.

"Do you want some coffee?" she asked pulling away from him.

"Sure." he answered. She went and poured them each a cup and took a seat next to him.

"So what's the plan for today kids?" Lydia asked curiously.

"Not too much, just going to school and then going to rebuild the rooftop. Why?" Haley asked.

"I cant believe you don't remember. It was officially 14 years ago that you guys met in Karen's café." she reminded the two teenagers.

"Oh crap. I completely forgot, its our 14th friendship anniversary." Haley said smiling.

"Well, we need to do something awesome tonight." he told her, unable to believe that he actually forgot.

"We should go though. I'll see you sometime tonight." Haley said walking to the front door.

"By Haley. Have fun tonight." Lydia called.

"So what are we doing tonight. 14 years is a long time." she said lacing her fingers through Nathans.

"I would actually just like to buy a whole bunch of junk food and sitting on the rooftop watching movies tonight. After we rebuild of course." he said.

"That sounds perfect." Haley replied beaming at him.

"Good. So it's a date." he said turning into the school parking lot. They walked onto the quad and saw Lucas sitting by himself dejectedly. Usually he was surrounded by all the other players but today he was alone, and clearly in his own little world. Nathan chose not to stop because despite everything they still weren't overly close, and he figured he should just leave him alone.

The day went by slowly for Nathan. He was eager to spend his entire afternoon and evening at the rooftop with Haley. When the final bell rang he hurried out to his car and waited for Haley. He saw her walking with Brooke towards him. The two girls veered off in their own directions, and Haley walked up to Nathan.

"Hey how was your day?" she asked him as he opened the door for her.

"Long. Yours?" he asked. "Good. Although I missed you all day." she told him.

"That's good to hear, I missed you too." he said pulling out of the parking lot and driving to the café.

Putting the rooftop back together, didn't take long with the two of them working on it. Haley hung all the lights back up while Nathan moved the chairs and TV back into position. When they were done, they took a fee steps back to admire their handiwork.

"I think it looks good. Don't you?" Nathan asked as he saw Haley staring intently at it.

"It looks perfect." she agreed.

"Good, now that that's done, lets go buy snacks." he said taking her hand. They walked to the 24 hour grocery store just down the street. The wandered down the aisles until they found the snacks.

"So what do we want?" he asked.

"I want salt and vinegar chips, and chocolate bars." Haley said.

"Ok." he said grabbing some chocolate bars and a bag of salt and vinegar chips and placing them in his basket. Nathan grabbed a couple bags of mixed candy and a case of root beer, before going to pay. Haley smiled at the guy behind the cashier counter, recognizing him as one of their old friends, Jimmy Edwards.

"Hi, Jimmy how are you?" Haley greeted.

"Hi, Haley. I see you're still hanging out with Nathan." he said coldly, always having hated Nathan. Jimmy thought of Nathan as unwelcome. The only time he ever hung out with Haley and the rest of the guys was when Nathan wasn't around. According to Jimmy, Nathan didn't belong with them, he was a Raven. Raven's didn't belong playing street basketball.

"Yeah. It's the 14th anniversary of our friendship." Haley said ignoring the cold tone in Jimmy's voice.

"That's nice." he said scathingly.

"I havent seen you around school." she noted.

"Oh I know. You guys are never around, so I kinda stopped going. Everyone was always too busy." he said glaring.

"Well, it was nice seeing you Jim. Hope to see you soon." she said grabbing the bag and walking out the door. Jimmy Edwards watched them leave, he saw Nathan link his hand with Haley's and bring it up to kiss it as they started walking. He watched as they stopped for a second and Nathan kissed her. It was obvious even from a distance, that she enjoyed the kiss. He grew angry when he saw him put his arm around Haley's waist pulling her closer, his hand resting dangerously close to her ass, as they started walking. The entire time he was friends with Haley, Skills, Mouth, Junk, and Fergie, he had harboured hope that Haley would realize that she was in love with him, like he was with her. But that never happened, and now it never would. Nathan Scott stole her from him. He hated him. He hated Haley. He hated the rest of the guys from the river court for ditching him. He had always believed that Nathan didn't belong with them, he was a Raven. Raven's didn't belong playing street ball with his friends. Jimmy hated the feelings. He was so sick of being left behind, how he was going to deal with that, he didn't know.

"He still hates me." Nathan said as they arrived back at the café.

"It seems. I don't even know why." she said.

"I do. He loves you, and he's always hated how close we are. Honestly I never even noticed he was gone, I know that's awful. But it's true.

"I know it is. Seeing him tonight, made me remember that he actually exists. But anywho, back to us. Let's get these movies in and start enjoying our evening." Haley said smiling and sinking into one of the chairs that were positioned close to each other. Nathan put the movie in and brought the bag of snacks over to where Haley was sitting. He sat down next to her and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. She leaned her head into his shoulder and watched "The Notebook" for the umpteenth time with Nathan. A movie he grew to hate more and more every time he watched it.


	14. Chapter 14

here we go. sorry for the long update time. but i hope to get another one out before i send my laptop away again. hope you enjoy drama filled chapter#1. let me know what you think.

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Nathan picked Haley up at the same time as he usually did. When he pulled up outside her house, she was waiting outside. She leaned over and kissed him when she climbed in the front side beside Nathan.

"Why were you waiting outside? That eager to see me?" Nathan joked.

"Ha ha. No. I'm outside because my parents are making out on the kitchen table and I couldn't stomach seeing it. So thus I was outside waiting for you." she explained, wincing when she mentioned her parents.

"Oooh, sounds just like yesterday when Keith and my mom were going at it." he said as they pulled away from the curb.

"Yeah I guess now we have even more in common. Parents who can keep it in the bedroom." Haley said.

"Not something I want to think about. Change of topic." he said smiling.

"Good plan. The thought of my parents…just ugh." she said. Nathan laughed at Haley's expression as he continued driving to school. When they pulled in the parking lot he shut off the car and climbed out waiting for Haley at the front of the car.

"You know its funny. Lucas isn't here. He has never missed a day of school before, and as I suspect it was so he could torture me, but its weird that he isn't here." Nathan said noticing the empty spot at Lucas's table.

"You know I think there's something wrong. I mean, he was sitting alone yesterday. I think something may have happened." Haley said taking a seat at their table. She reached her hands across the table, and he clasped her hands in his.

"It's not really my place to do anything about it. I mean me and Lucas arent really close. It's not my place to deal with his problems. If he needs the help then he can ask for it. I'm not going to approach him, no way Hales." he said squeezing her hand.

"I know baby. I didn't mean anything by it okay." she assured him.

"I know. It's just that Lucas and I will probably never be close enough for me to just meddle in his life." he said softly. She smiled at him across the table. They talked for a while longer until the bell rang. Nathan walked Haley to her first class and kissed her softly outside the room before making his way to his class. Haley was sitting in her desk when a very defeated looking Lucas walked in to the literature class. Haley watched him make his way to his seat.

"Thank you for joining us Mr Scott." the teacher said as he made his way to his seat.

"Sorry." Lucas muttered. Haley watched him sit down and had never seem someone look so broken. All class she wondered what could have happened that made him look like that. When the bell rang Lucas picked up his books and walked out of the class without a backward glance. For some strange reason she felt worried about him.

When lunch finally rolled around Haley quickly walked out to the lunch table to wait for Nathan. Nathan appeared a couple minutes later and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"Hey baby, missed you." he said kissing her neck.

"Missed you too." she replied leaning into his embrace. He moved around the table to take his usual seat across the table from her and took her hands in his.

"Have you seen Lucas?" Haley asked.

"No I didn't think he was here today." he answered.

"Oh he's here." she answered. She didn't get to say anything more when Lucas sat down next to them.

"Hey Luke." Nathan said when Lucas sat down.

"Nathan we need to talk." Lucas said when he sat down.

"Okay about what?" Nathan asked wearily.

"I think you deserve to know, because there's a very real possibility this could affect you too. A few years ago Dan found out he has HCM. HCM is a genetic heart disease. And I found a couple days ago that I too have the disease. HCM is genetic Nathan." Lucas said quietly.

"What are you saying Lucas?" Nathan asked.

"I'm saying there is a very real chance that you might have HCM Nathan. You need to get checked Nate." Lucas said.

"No. No. No. This cannot be happening. Lucas I cant. I cant do that. I know enough to know that if you have a genetic heart disease that basketball is out for a career. I cant do this." he said getting up and walking away. Haley immediately got up and ran after Nathan.

"Nathan stop." she called. He immediately stopped and turned towards her.

"Do you believe it Hales?" he asked, obviously afraid.

"Nathan…" she started.

"Do you think that I might lose basketball. I don't think it could happen. I'm not going to let it happen." he said determined.

"Nathan. I think Lucas is right. You have to get tested Nathan. It's for your own good." she begged.

"No Haley. I will not risk my career." he snapped.

"But you'll risk your life?" she asked incredulously.

"Just leave it Haley. It's not your problem Haley. It's mine." he said.

"Nathan, I love you. I want you to be okay. I wouldn't be able to live if you were taken from me when it could be prevented. You mean that much to me Nathan." she said.

"Well you don't have to worry about that. It's not your problem Haley. If I choose to take that test then so be it. It's my life so don't you worry about it. It doesn't concern you." he said.

"Fine. Risk your life I don't care anymore Nathan." she said before walking away.

When the next period finally started, Nathan went to his class and sat down. He saw Lucas staring at him in the class. Throughout the entire class he debated whether the test was worth the risk. On one hand if he didn't do it, if he didn't take the test then he could possibly lose his life. But if he took the test then he could lose basketball. But again, if he didn't take the test, he could lose Haley. That was a risk he wasn't willing to take. Without Haley, it would be like he didn't have a life. When the bell rang he caught up with Lucas when he left the room.

"I'll take the test. Where do I go to take it?" he asked.

"Charlotte. Their doing free testing today Nate. I'll drive." he said.

"When would we leave?" Nathan asked.

"Right now. Let's go." he said.

"I just have to stop and say goodbye to Haley first okay." he said. He knew Haley had a free period right now, and he made his way to the tutor centre where he knew she would be. He saw her poring over an assignment when he walked n and took a seat next to her.

"Hey." he said placing a hand on her back.

"what do you want Nathan?" she asked tiredly.

"I want to apologize and tell you that I'm leaving. Lucas is taking me to Charlotte to get the HCM test. I'll call you when I get home." he said. She smiled at him and leaned in to kiss him softly.

"It'll be fine Nathan. I feel that." she said softly.

"Thanks. I love you so much Hales." he said kissing her once more.

"I know you do. I love you too. I'll talk to you later." she said.

"Bye." he said walking out of the classroom, and out to Lucas's car. Haley sighed when he left, and prayed that everything would be okay. He was such a good person and he didn't deserve to have Dan ruin his life in one more way.

The drive to Charlotte was silent.

"So what does it mean for basketball now that you know you have HCM?" Nathan asked tired of the silence.

"Oh. Well the obvious. I cant play anymore, if I do. I could die. But you know, I'm not ready to leave the game behind. I mean I wonder what opportunities I missed- hell the team missed- because I was constantly being an ass to you. I mean I know that we could have had the state championship every year had I been secure enough to treat you as a team mate. But I didn't. and now all I have are my regrets." he said.

"What are the odds I have it?" Nathan asked afraid of the answer.

"There's a fifty percent chance that we could get it. I mean Dan has it, so there's a fifty percent chance that one of us could have it. I know I have it, but that doesn't mean by any means that you don't have it Nathan. don't think that because I have it, that your in the clear. It could still affect you." he warned Nathan.

"Were you scared when you got the test?" Nathan asked.

"To death. I mean they take the test and then tell you they'll call you in a few days with the results. It's nerve wracking as hell. You spend the days just freaking out, losing all the confidence that you had in being healthy." Lucas explained.

"How did you react when you found out?" Nathan asked.

"Well you seen me yesterday, and today. That was me reacting to the news" he said.

"I see." Nathan said. After that the drive to Charlotte was silent again. Nathan spent his time thinking about Haley, he knew how worried she was for him. It was one of the million reasons he loved her so much. She cared so much about other people, especially him, even when sometimes he didn't deserve it. When they arrived in Charlotte, Lucas immediately drove to the clinic where the tests were being given. He and Nathan walked in and sat down in the waiting room. A few minutes later they called Nathan into the office.

Haley sat at home worrying about Nathan. She couldn't concentrate on anything and had no one to talk to. Her parents went out for the evening. So she sat on the couch with the phone beside her waiting for Nathan's call. She hoped and prayed that everything was all right, but despite what she told him, she had very real fears. He loved basketball, and she wasn't sure he could survive losing it.

Meanwhile, Nathan and Lucas were on their way back to Tree Hill. Nathan was silently, already freaking out about what the phone call would entail when the doctors called. He hoped and prayed that life would go on as it always had. In a perfect world, he would have basketball and Haley and his life would be perfect, but he couldn't get rid of the fear that something would come in and ruin his perfect world. When Lucas dropped Nathan off at home, he walked in his front door and seen his mom waiting on the couch for him to get in.

"Haley told me where you were." Karen said getting up to hug her son.

"I still don't know what's going to happen. I'm scared mom." he said hugging her.

"Nathan, if you want you can skip for the next few days. I understand son. You wont be able to concentrate on classes if your waiting to find out if you have a heart disease you have my blessing to stay home from school." she said rubbing his back.

"I think that's a good idea. I wont be able to face anyone at school if I don't know." he said.

"What about Haley?" Karen asked.

"Not Haley. I don't want to worry for her. I think its best if I don't see her until I know. I don't want to snap on her like I did today. I don't want to see the look of hurt in her eyes like I seen today. I don't want to hurt her again." Nathan said.

"That's your choice too, but I know Haley will worry whether she's here or not." Karen told him.

"I know that. But I don't want her to end up being in the line of fire if I go off at some point." he explained.

"That's noble Nathan, and maybe a little bit stupid, you know she's going to call and come over here." Karen argued.

"I know that. I was hoping you would keep her away, at least until I know the results. You know what, the one thing Dan gives me my entire life, and if I have it, it might be fatal. Imagine that." he said bitterly.

Haley didn't know when they were supposed to be home, and she fell asleep on the couch waiting for Nathan to call. When her parents came in, they woke her up and moved her to her bedroom, trying to convince her that Nathan never called because he got in late and didn't want to disturb her. Haley tried to believe them. When she woke up the next morning she immediately picked up the phone and called Nathan's house.

"Hello?" Karen greeted.

"Oh hi Karen. Is Nathan home?" Haley asked.

"Yes home. He's sleeping. He had a late night last night and is staying home today." Karen explained kindly.

"Oh. Okay. Tell him I'll call him later." Haley said.

"For sure." Karen said before hanging up. Haley was worried about Nathan, she hadn't been able to sleep at all last night once moved to her room. All night she dreamt about how her life would change if Nathan had HCM. She knew it sounded selfish to think about how she would change if Nathan was diagnosed, but still she did anyways. She borrowed her moms car and drove to school. When she pulled up, Lucas jogged over to her.

"How's Nathan today?" he asked showing a suitable amount of brotherly concern.

"He's not coming to school." she said softly.

"I don't blame him. He's waiting for something that will change his life forever." Lucas said walking with her to hers and Nathan's table.

"How did you take it? You didn't miss any school while waiting for your diagnosis." she asked

"Yeah. But I also had a whole school that knew my every move. And when I was waiting for my results I kept telling myself it wasn't real. That my life was still the same fairytale that it always was. That's how I get through almost all my problems. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes, like this time, it works out." he explained.

"I guess that makes sense. I'm just really worried about him." she said her voice breaking slightly.

"Well then he's lucky. I didn't have anyone to worry about me. My mom is never home, my dad doesn't care. And all these people they pretend to care but they really don't. Nathan has you. You care for him. He's definitely the lucky one in this situation. He had people all around him who care about him. He'll get through this. I know it." Lucas assured Haley. It felt weird to Haley to be sitting with Lucas without wanting to hit him. It was a new occurrence for them and she had to say that she kind of liked it. It was refreshing not feeling the constant need to defend Nathan.

Nathan sat at home by the phone all day, anxiously waiting for it to ring. On the few occasions it did ring, he answered it and was always disappointed when it wasn't the clinic on the other end. Whitey called, asking why he wasn't at school or in practice. Principal Turner called and asked why he wasn't in school. Keith called and asked how he was feeling. He told Whitey and Principal Turner the same thing, he sad that he was coming down with something and he would bring a note in to excuse his absence when he came back. With Keith, he didn't know what to say, so he just listened to Keith say things to assure him that things would be alright. He wasn't complexly sold on that idea though. After dinner, he was sitting by the phone again, knowing it was unlikely that they would call in the evening but decided that he should stay by the phone just in case. The phone rang again and Nathan answered it.

"Hello." he said not glancing at the caller ID.

"Hey, its Haley." Haley said on the other end.

"Hi. This isn't a good time Hales." he said frowning when he realized that it was her.

"I know your worried Nathan. But let me in. We already had this conversation recently. I love you and I'm here for you. Let me carry some of the weight for you." she begged.

"I cant Haley. I wont put you through this. I cant do it. This isn't your fight." he said.

"Yes it is. Anything that has to do with you, has to do with me. We're a team Nathan. We win together and we lose together. I love you so much it hurts, don't keep me in the dark about this. Let me help you." she said.

"No Haley. I have to deal with this alone. Please stop calling me for now." he begged.

"Fine." she said before she hung up. Nathan listened to the dial tone for a few seconds. He hated hearing the hurt tone in her voice yet again, and it nearly killed him to know that he put it in her again. It was the second time in the last two days she would cry because of something he said. He just wanted to find out if he was too lose everything or if he was destined to have everything for the rest of his life.

The next day came and Haley drove herself to school again. Like yesterday she sat with Lucas at hers and Nathan's table.

"How's Nathan today?" Lucas asked when Haley sat down.

"Not good. He's shutting me out again. I don't know what it is with him. But he thinks that this is only affecting him. Its affecting me too. I love him and I don't know how to help him if he wont let me. Its been two days and I cant do this relationship by myself. He doesn't want to see me. He doesn't want me to call. I don't know what to do Lucas. It's never been like this. Last time he was keeping something from me, to protect me. This time he wont let me in, because I know he's scared of me seeing him weak. That doesn't matter to me." she ranted as Lucas listened quietly.

"He'll come around. I promise. At least your trying. He'll realize that soon enough." he assured her.

"Thank you Lucas. I never would have thought a few months earlier that we would be sitting here talking right now." she said.

"Yeah, I never thought I could ever get within 2 feet of me without you trying to hit me." he joked.

"I wasn't really that bad. I just hated you." she said.

"Want to know something?" Lucas asked.

"Sure." Haley replied. "I've always been jealous of Nathan for that very reason. He has people that care for him." Lucas confessed. Haley looked at Lucas in shock. By this time the bell rang and Haley walked to her class, while Lucas walked to his car.

The car ride over to Lucas's only took a few minutes. When Lucas arrived he parked out front want walked up the sidewalk before knocking on the door. Nathan answered a few seconds later and invited Lucas in.

"Hey Nathan. I just wanted to talk to you for a minute." he said taking a seat on the worn EZ boy in the corner.

"Okay. What about?" he asked cautiously.

"Haley. She really needs you man. She doesn't want to be kept at a distance. She wants to be there for you. And if you don't let her help you then there is a very real possibility that you could lose her." :Lucas said before walking out. While they were talking the phone rang. Nathan quickly answered. He was on the phone for a total of ten seconds before Nathan got his news. He stared at Lucas until he hung up the phone.

"I have to go see Haley." Nathan said as he rushed from the house.

He arrived at Haley's a couple minutes later. Haley was sitting outside in the grass. "Hey. I just wanted to apologize." he said kneeling down ahead of her.

"Okay…" she started.

"And I want to tell you that you were right. There's nothing to worry about. I'm safe. I don't have HCM.


	15. Chapter 15

this is the toughest chapter i've ever written. i dont know how good it is. and i didnt have time to revise. Let me know what you think of this highly drama filled chapter. :)

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Monday morning, Jimmy Edwards stood outside Tree Hill High, taking a long drag from his cigarette, he watched the students go on with their lives. Today, Jimmy vowed would be the last time people ever ignored him, or not included him. Today was the day Jimmy Edwards would get his revenge.

Haley decided that morning to walk to school. Nathan had an early morning practice and wouldn't be back until just before first period, and it was such a nice day out. It just felt right to walk. On her way to school she joined up with Mouth who was also enjoying a walk to school.

"Hey buddy." Haley said as she joined up with him.

"Hey. How's it going? Havent talked to you in a while." Mouth said happy to see his friend. He had been out sick for the past week and was just coming back to school.

"Oh, its been a pretty eventful week for me. Um Nathan had a HCM scare, we celebrated our 14th friendship anniversary. And we ran into Jimmy at the convenience store down from Karen's Café, he works there now. Did you know that?" Haley stated.

"No, I didn't know that. I havent seen him in so long How's he doing?" Mouth asked.

"He stopped coming to school. He's pretty dark right now. I think he hates us." she said.

"He couldn't ever hate you Hales." Mouth assured her.

"Even so. He definitely hates Nathan. And I think he hates me for loving Nathan." she explained.

"Maybe." Mouth agreed.

"So how're you feeling?" she asked still concerned for her good friends health.

"Fine now. But all last week it was awful. But at least now I should be fine for a couple more years before getting sick again." he joked.

"True. I've never seen someone get sick so rarely in my life." she agreed. By this time they had met up with Skills who was dribbling a basketball on his way to school.

"walking to school Skills?" Haley said as they walked beside him.

"Yeah. Its too nice a day to drive. Hey Mouth. Feeling better?" he asked seeing his friends.

"Yeah. Much." Mouth answered.

"Good. So how's Nate and his HCM drama?" Skills asked.

"Good. He doesn't have it. I thought I told you after he found out." she said.

"Nope. This is the first I've heard of it, since you guys found out last week." he said.

"Oh. Sorry Skills." she apologized.

"No problem H James." he said patting her back. The happy trio walked to school together just talking about everything. When they arrived at the school, Skills and Mouth followed Haley to her locker and then they went onto the quad to sit at their usual table.

Jimmy watched Haley sit down with Mouth and Skills. He was happy at the moment, because Nathan hadn't appeared, but that didn't mean he still wasn't thinking about revenge. Planting a smile on his face, while caressing the gun in his pocket he walked over to where they were sitting.

"Jimmy. It's good to see you." Mouth said when he seen him coming.

"Hi Mouth." he said softly.

"want to sit with us?" Haley asked kindly.

"Actually what I want if for all of you to shut up, and listen to me very carefully." he said pulling the gun from his pocket.

"Oh my God Jimmy." Mouth said his face paling.

"Jimmy what? What are you doing?" Haley asked terrified.

"Shut up! Get walking. Walk to the tutor centre! We wont be disturbed there." he said forcing them to their feet and following behind them.

"This is messed up." Skills said as he followed Mouth and Haley into the school. When they entered the school, almost immediately mass chaos ensued. People seen the gun and they all started running scared. Principal Turner came on the intercom and instructed everyone to get to a safe zone. Meanwhile Jimmy escorted a terrified Mouth, Skills and Haley into the tutor centre where he locked the door.

"Sit down." he instructed. They all listened and they sat down close to each other, clasping tightly to each others hands. Jimmy sat down on the desk at the front of the room and watched his three former friends sitting together afraid for their lives.

The team bus arrived back at school and everyone got off the bus. Whitey seen the mass chaos around him.

"what the hell?" he asked. Nathan saw Brooke running towards him, and he knew that she might know what was going on.

"Brooke! Stop!" he called. She ran up to him.

"Someone has a gun in the school." she said.

"What?" he asked.

"Someone has a gun in the school. He's locked in the tutor centre with hostages." she explained.

"Haley." he said in shock.

"I don't know." she admitted.

"It's okay." he said. Whitey ushered everyone back onto the bus and Nathan was unable to escape. Whitey pushed him back onto the bus.

It was a few minutes later and it was completely quiet in the tutoring centre. Jimmy sat on top of the desk holding the gun tightly, ready to shoot at any moment.

"Jimmy why are you doing this?" Haley asked with tears rolling down her face.

"Why am I doing this?" he asked amused.

"Yeah. I don't get it. We're friends." she begged.

"Yeah we were. But you don't get it Haley. Skills and Mouth were my friends, but you. You were supposed to be more. You would've been more until Nathan came in and stole you from me." he said bitterly.

"I'm sorry Jimmy. I really am. We never to not include you. And I never knew how you felt about me Jimmy. Honestly. I'm telling the truth. But I love Nathan. Please stop this." she begged.

"I cant. I cant take this back. On top of that I wont. It's time I get my revenge for everything that I've been through." he said.

The reporters and police and families started arriving. Nathan saw his mom and Keith arrived, from there he could see his mom's tearstained face. They were followed closely by Haley's mom and dad. He didn't know how to tell them that Haley was still inside.

"You're mom is here Nathan." Whitey said.

"Nate, do you think I could come with you. My parents are on vacation right now." Brooke asked.

"Sure. Whitey, Brooke's gonna come with me to my mom. Her parents are on vacation." he explained.

"Fine. Go to your mom. She's worried sick Nathan." Whitey said opening the bus door. Nathan ran off the bus and ran over to his mom and Keith, so she could stop worrying.

"Mom." he called.

"Oh my God. Thank God." she said throwing her arms around her son and pulling him close to her.

"I'm okay mom." he said hugging her back. He could see Haley's mom and dad standing right beside Keith. He pulled away from his mom and hugged Keith quick.

"Mom this is my friend Brooke. Her parents are on vacation, so I told her she could wait with us." he said.

"That's fine." Karen said smiling at Brooke.

"Where's my baby?" Lydia asked.

"She's in the school. I hope to God she isn't one of the hostages." he said worry coating his voice.

"Oh no." Lydia said and she dropped her head in her hands. Jimmy rubbed her back in silence, trying to keep his own worry buried. Karen took Nathan's hand in hers while they waited for news one way or another.

Another few minutes went by and more parents showed up. More kids were reunited with their parents and Nathan had never seen so many tears in his life. He seen Skills's and Mouth's parents speed walking over to their group.

"Have you seen our boys?" Mouth's dad spoke up.

"Their in the school with Haley." Jimmy spoke up, his voice faltering slightly.

"Oh no. My baby." Mouth's mom said immediately starting to sob. Joe held her tight and allowed her to sob in his shirt. Skills's parents held each other waiting and hoping that their son came out okay. Aside from the sobbing it was virtually silent in the school parking lot. The police were strategizing about possible ways to save the kids lives without hurting anyone. Karen held onto Nathan's hand tightly, fearing that if she let go, she could lose him. Lydia and Jimmy held each other tightly, in fear. Nathan reached out and took Lydia's hand in his trying to assure her.

Back in the tutoring centre it was so silent that you could hear a pin drop.

"I didn't tell Nathan that I loved him this morning. I didn't even see him this morning." she sobbed.

"It's okay buddy. He knows you love him." Mouth assured her.

"I didn't say I loved my parents either." she said. "They know it too." Skills said squeezing her hand.

"Please let us go Jim," Mouth begged.

"Why should I? You never included me and you never called. Why should I allow you to leave?" he asked incredulously.

"We weren't risking your life." Skills shot out.

"Don't talk to me Skills. You guys are all traitors. You betrayed me." he said.

"we never meant to hurt you Jimmy." Haley said softly.

"Yes you did. You all realized that you could be popular without me." he said.

"Shut up Jimmy. You don't know what you're talking about." Skills said a little more firmly.

"Oh don't I Skills? Why else would you start hanging out with Nathan Scott. He's a Raven. School elite." he said sharply.

"we've been friends with Nathan longer than we've been friends with you Jimmy. The five of us had been friends for years before you even moved here." Skills said.

"Really. Well then now I know just how unwanted I was even back then." he said.

"If we never wanted to hang out with you, we wouldn't have. We wanted you with us." Mouth shot it softly.

"Whatever Mouth." he said brushing him off.

"Don't Jimmy. Remember how you and I planned on going to MIT together?" Mouth asked.

"They rejected me Mouth. And I dropped out of school. Now stop talking to me." he yelled.

"jimmy please." Haley said standing up.

"Sit down. Do I need to shoot my gun to make you understand?" he asked.

"Jimmy please. I just need a drink." she said pointing to the water cooler across the room by the door.

"Fine." he said pointing the gun at her while she slowly walked over to the water cooler. While Jimmy's attention was focused on Haley, Skills made a run for the door. When Jimmy realized what was happening, he started blindly firing shots throughout the room. Everyone fell to the floor trying to avoid being shot.

"Get back to your seats. Now! I suggest you don't try that again." he yelled. Everyone crawled back to their seats, and Jimmy saw spots of blood adorning the floor coming from one of the three.

"Oh my God. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean to hurt you. I swear I didn't." he fretted, officially scared of what was going to happen.

Outside the school they could hear shots being fired off. Hearing the shots made the officers start gearing up so they could get inside the school. Hearing the shots made everyone outside still missing a child fear. "What if that was my child?" was going through every parents head. Karen seen Mary Edwards running across the parking lot.

"I just heard about this. Have you guys seen Jimmy?" she asked the parents of the kids her son had hung out with.

"We havent. Hales, Skills and Mouth are in the school." Karen said worry still evident in her voice regardless of the fact that her son was fine.

"Mary Edwards." an officer came to stand by her.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Can you come with me please?" he asked. Mary nodded and followed the officer away. When she emerged a few minutes later, after they allowed her to come stand with her friends, she was pale.

"Is everything okay?" Keith asked.

"No. Jimmy is the shooter. They just told me that they had a positive description on the shooter and its my boy." she said sobbing. The shock on everyone's faces was apparent.

"You're son has my daughter hostage in the school?" Lydia asked softly.

"It seems. I'm so sorry Lydia. I'm sorry." she sobbed. Lydia couldn't answer. She didn't know how. They knew now, that it was Haley, Skills and Mouth that were the hostages. All the other students were accounted for, they were the only ones still missing aside from Jimmy Edwards. Lydia knew she shouldn't be mad at Mary Edwards, but she couldn't help it. Instead she just buried her head in Jimmy's chest and squeezed Nathan's hand that she still clutched.

"It's my fault." Nathan muttered softly.

"What?" Karen asked looking at her son. It was one of the first words he spoke through this entire ordeal.

"It's my fault my friends are in there." he repeated.

"Why would you say that?" Karen asked concerned. All the other parents turned to look at him.

"Jimmy always hated me. He thought that I didn't belong with them. Haley and I seen him the day of our 14th friendship anniversary. And he still hated me. It's my fault that he has them in there. It's my fault that he has Haley in there. If I could have just left them alone, they wouldn't be in this situation right now." Nathan said.

"Its not your fault. Keep in mind that you and Haley have been friends for 14 years. that's longer than she even knew Jimmy Edwards. You are the best thing that ever happened to my daughter." Lydia said squeezing Nathan's hand.

"Thanks Lydia." he said calming down slightly. She attempted to shoot him a reassuring smile but wasn't sure if it has the desired effect. Karen wrapped her arms around her son encouraging him to let go.

Back in the tutor centre, Jimmy was still panicking.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." he said while swinging the gun. His eyes took on a glazed look when he turned the gun on himself.

"No Jimmy don't." Mouth yelled. Jimmy didn't listen, and one final gunshot filled the air, just as officers were entering the tutor centre. They immediately ran to Jimmy's side and started feeling for a pulse. When they found what they were looking for, they called for a stretcher. The paramedics ran in and immediately ran over to tend to Jimmy. They loaded him up on a stretcher and wheeled him to the ambulance. When the school door opened up, and the remaining parents seen a stretcher appear their hearts went into overdrive. Mary Edwards ran over to the stretcher when she saw that it contained her son.

"You're Mrs Edwards?" the paramedic asked.

"Yes." she answered, tears still streaming down her face.

"You can come with us." he said pushing the stretcher into the ambulance.

Skills and Mouth were crowded around Haley who was holding her leg to her body. The paramedics obviously hadn't figured out that there was another injured person.

"Come on, I'll carry you out." Skills said. Haley nodded weakly, and allowed Skills to pick her up. Skills gingerly picked her up and Mouth picked up her backpack. Together they walked out of the tutor centre and it's bad memories. Mouth opened the door of the school and seen their parents waiting off to the side. A paramedic immediately ran over to them with a stretcher and Skills placed Haley on it. When Haley was on the stretcher, Mouth and Skills ran over to their parents and hugged them.

"Haley's on the stretcher. She was hurt." Mouth told Jimmy and Lydia. The look of terror of their faces matched the one on Nathan's face, and they took off running over to the ambulance. Nathan made it there first and immediately pulled her into his arms.

"Baby are you okay?" he asked.

"Now I am. I was so scared." she said.

"Me too." he said as he kissed her lips softly. Her parents showed up a second or so later, and he moved to the side so they could hug her.

"Thank God you're okay." they said hugging their daughter while crying. Jimmy let go when he seen Haley on the stretcher. He never ever wanted to feel this way ever again. Haley smiled slightly trying to ignore the pain in her leg for a moment.

"We've got to get her to the hospital." the paramedic said. After watching the ambulance leave the parking lot, and Skills and Mouth's families leaving. Nathan climbed in the back of his moms car as she drove them home, and Jimmy and Lydia drove to the hospital to wait for their daughter to be released.


	16. Chapter 16

yay another new chapter. My laptop goes away in 2 days so i'll try to update as soon as i can again. Let me know what you think.

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They immediately sent Haley into surgery to get the bullet from her leg. Her parents sat worried in the waiting room. Never in their lives had they expected to ever have to sit in a waiting room waiting for one of their children to come out of surgery after being shot. They waited in silence until they heard Nathan approach from behind.

"Is she out of surgery yet?" he asked taking a seat next to Lydia.

"No. The doctor said they'd come and get us when she was. How are you Nathan?" she asked.

"I'm fine. I just hope to God that Haley's ok." he said softly.

" I do too. I mean we're sitting here waiting to see if our girl is okay. I mean you hear all these horrors about people who are in surgery not living through it. I'm just sitting here praying that she'll be okay." Lydia said brushing a tear away. They sat there for a while longer until a doctor emerged pulling a mask from his face, making his way over to Jimmy and Lydia.

"Haley's out of surgery. She's just coming out of her anaesthetic, you can go and see her." he said leading them down a hallway. Not wanting to interrupt Nathan stayed where he was.

"Hey baby girl." Jimmy said when they seen Haley's eyes open.

"Hi daddy." Haley said smiling at her dad.

"How are you feeling baby?" Lydia asked.

"I feel okay." she said.

"Nathan's here. We'll go grab him, we want to talk to the doctor." Jimmy said kissing Haley's forehead. Lydia repeated the action before they walked back to the waiting room.

"Nathan. Do you want to go keep Haley company. We want to talk to the doctor." they said. Nathan eagerly followed them into Haley's room.

"Hey, baby." he said taking a seat by Haley's bed.

"Hey." she said softly.

"Are you okay?" he asked taking her hand.

"I'm fine now. I felt so alone without you here. I'm so glad you're okay." she said holding his hand tightly.

"When do you get to go home?" he asked.

"I don't know. I hope soon." she answered.

"You'll get home soon. I love you so much baby." he said kissing her hand.

"I love you too. I'm so glad we're both okay." she told him.

"So when can we take her home?" Jimmy asked the doctor.

"Tomorrow probably. If she recovers well from the surgery. She'll have to take it easy though for a couple days. And as long as she uses her crutches and rests the majority of the time, she'll be able to go to school probably Thursday. The school doesn't open again until them anyways. Just make sure she takes it easy when she does go home. I'll prescribe her some painkillers and she needs to do physical therapy." the doctor explained.

"We understand." Jimmy said. They walked back to Haley's room and saw her and Nathan talking.

"We'll just leave and come back to pick you up tomorrow sweetie." Lydia said kissing her forehead once.

"Bye mom and dad." she said.

"Can you stay with me Nathan? I don't want to be alone." she whispered.

"Of course." he said taking the comfy chair next to her. She reached her hand across the bed and he laced his fingers with hers.

"I love you." he said as he settled into the chair and watched Haley. When he saw her eyes drift shut and he copied the action and went to sleep.

The next morning Haley woke up her hand still clasped in Nathan's.

"Good morning." she said.

"Good morning." he replied.

"How did you sleep?" she asked him.

"The chair isn't the most comfy ever and my back is going to be sore, but I was with you and that made it worth it." he told her leaning over to kiss her forehead.

"I get to go home today." she said grinning.

"I know." he replied grinning at her. They sat their for a couple minutes before her parents walked in.

"Are you ready to go?" they asked.

"Yeah." she said. The nurse brought in a wheel chair as was protocol and helped her into it. They then wheeled her out to their car.

"I'll come by and see you later." Nathan told her kissing her once before walking to his own car, knowing his mom was probably worried that he never came home last night. When Haley got home she was immediately transported up to her room and placed in her bed.

"Do you need anything Haley?" her mom asked.

"No I'm fine mom. Thanks though." she said smiling at her mom.

"Your welcome baby." Lydia told her daughter before exiting the door.

The days went by slowly and each day Haley was able to move a little bit more. When Thursday came, the first day back to school Haley got out of bed eagerly and dressed in the clothes that she had laid out the night before. She was sitting downstairs in the kitchen when Nathan showed up. He opened the door to his truck when she walked out to the truck on her crutches. All the therapy was helping and soon she wouldn't need the crutches. Her leg still hurt but she was able to put some pressure on it now, and that was a drastic improvement from a couple days earlier.

"Are you sure you want to go to school today?" Nathan asked as they pulled away from the curb.

"Yes I am. There is only so much time I can spend in my bed at home." she said.

"Okay." he agreed. They drove the rest of the way to school in silence and when he parked the truck at the closest spot available. He walked around to her side of the truck and handed her, her crutches.

"Thanks." Haley said walking along with him towards the school. When they arrived at their table where Mouth and Skills were sitting they sat down.

"Hey Haley, How you feeling?" Skills asked.

"Good thanks Skills." she said smiling at her friend. They were sitting and talking when Brooke walked over to the table.

"Hi Haley, how's the leg?" she asked standing.

"It's fine. Thanks for asking Brooke." she said.

"I'm actually here for a reason though. I want to invite everyone out to my cabin this weekend. I think it would be really good for everyone to get away from everything. We would leave Friday after school, since Friday is a short school day. And we would come back Sunday afternoon. Are you guys in?" she asked.

"Yeah." Haley said excited.

"I guess we're in." Nathan said smiling at Haley.

"Good. Mouth? Skills? I have to go ask Lucas despite the fact that he's an ass." she said.

"We're in." Skills affirmed.

"Good. Off to the awful Scott." she said turning away.

"Hey Brooke. Take it easy on Lucas okay? He's been through a lot lately. He just lost basketball as you know." Nathan called after Brooke.

"Why did he lose it anyways?" she asked unsure. "I don't know if I should say this but, he was HCM. A genetic heart disease. He cant play anymore." Nathan explained.

"Oh." she said surprised.

"I know it came as a shock to me too." he agreed.

"I'll be off now." she said walking away. "This is really nice of Brooke to invite us out there." Haley said.

"It is." he agreed. When the bell rang everyone walked to their classes. When Haley walked past the tutor centre she felt uneasy. The place made her uncomfortable.

"Baby are you okay?" Nathan asked when he felt her stiffen beside him as he walked her to class.

"Yeah. I'm fine." she said softly.

"Are you sure? It's fine if its too early to see the tutor centre. I know what you went through in there." he said squeezing her hand reassuringly.

"It's not too soon. But at some point I will need to face my fears and go in there." she said.

"Not right now though. You have time. don't rush things." he said kissing her cheek. When Nathan dropped her off at her class she went in a took her seat. It made her uncomfortable how everyone was looking at her. It was well known in the school that she was stuck in the tutor centre and got shot by the shooter. She could hear people whispering.

"Did you hear that the Edwards kid is planning on getting out and finishing the job on her?" on girl sitting two seats behind Haley said. Haley kept silent but the idea of Jimmy Edwards coming to get her shook her badly. She wasn't ready to relive it again, she didn't think she ever would be. When the lunch bell rang Haley walked out to where Nathan was sitting. Nathan saw the worried expression on her face and immediately took her hand.

"Baby what's wrong?" he asked concerned.

"There were girls talking about me in class. I need to do something. I know you're not going to like this but I have to do it. It's the only way to make me forget this. I have to go see Jimmy." she said gauging Nathan's reaction.

"Haley that is an bad idea. You want to go see the guy who shot you? You cant." he said disbelieving.

"This is something I have to do Nathan." she said.

"I'm done talking about this right now." he said. They ate their lunch in silence, neither knowing what to say to the other. At the end of the day Nathan drove her home.

"I'll come by to see you later." he said when he dropped her off.

"Are you trying to check up on me?" she asked disbelieving.

"No. I'll see you later." he said. She walked into the house and dropped her bag on the floor. "How was school sweetheart?" her mom asked.

"Fine. I actually need you to do me a favor mom." she said.

"What do you need?" her mom asked.

"I need you to drive me to the prison. I need to see Jimmy. It's the only way to get over this." she said. "Are you sure?" Lydia asked not liking the idea of Haley seeing Jimmy Edwards. "Yeah." she said.

"Fine." she said grabbing her car keys and walking out the door.

Haley was nervous when she got to the prison.

"I'll come back later. Call me when you're finished." Lydia said dropping Haley off at the door. Haley nodded and went inside. The officer led Haley to Jimmy's cell. She saw him sitting on his cot, just staring at the door.

"Jimmy." she asked.

"Haley? What are you doing here?" he asked shocked to see her.

"I needed to see you." she said.

"Why? I caused you pain. I'm so sorry Haley." he said.

"I know why you did it. But I just need to know. Are you going to come after me?" she asked her voice breaking.

"What? No of course not. Haley I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you or anyone for that matter. I mean I shot myself and I'm still not better either. But I am recovering. And you're recovering. I want to do my time and when I get out, I promise I will not hurt you. Despite everything you are still my friend Haley. And I know I'm not your friend anymore. But I promise you that I will not come after you. You are safe. And besides you have Nathan, he will protect you from anything life has to throw at you." he assured her.

"Thank you." she said relaxing slightly.

Lydia was waiting at home, not sure how much time Haley needed. She was surprised when Nathan walked through the door.

"Nathan. How are you?" he asked.

"Fine. Where's Haley?" he asked.

"I took her to see Jimmy Edwards." she answered.

"Oh." he said.

"I know you probably don't agree with that decision, but its what Haley wanted. I didn't agree with it either but she needed it. She said you guys fought about it today. And the fight really hurt her. She needs you Nathan. She wanted you beside her when she talked to Jimmy because she felt that you could protect her from everything. You need to talk to her Nathan Or fight about it. I agree with you though, it was a bad idea to go talk to him. You need to make her see your point, and I know my daughter she will try to make you see her point. Argue about it. Sometimes a good argument makes everything better Nathan." Lydia said.

"Can I go pick her up?" he asked.

"Sure." Lydia replied. Nathan left the house and drove to the jail. He was waiting by his truck when Haley came out.

"Nathan what are you doing here?" she asked seeing him by his truck.

"We need to talk." he said opening her door for her.

"Fine. Although I already know what you're going to say." she said climbing into the truck.

"I'm just going to say that I love you. And that while I disagree with your decision, if talking to him actually helped. Just tell me what happened, then I'll decide if I'm still mad at you." he said.

"he's sorry. It's all good. I promise. I feel better now. I promise. Now are we going to fight about it? I really don't want to." she said.

"I don't either. Hales I love you. I don't want to fight with you, we fought enough about it earlier. I'm sorry Hales." he said.

"I'm sorry too." she said wrapping her arms around him.

"I love you." he said hugging her back.

"I love you too." she said kissing him.

"I so cant wait to go to the cabin with you this weekend." he told her.

"me too. We need a weekend away." she told him kissing him once more.


	17. Chapter 17

hope you enjoy the chapter. it's fairly boring, just a bunch of fluff out at the cabin. let me know what you think. My laptop is back now, so i should be able to update more frequently again. thank you to all those who review this story, they all mean a lot to me. Thank you.

I own nothing.

* * *

When school was over Friday, everyone met at Nathan's house. They were taking two vehicles out there, Nathan's truck and Brooke's SUV. Still limping slightly and her crutches already stowed away in the back of the truck just in case, Haley climbed in the passenger seat of Nathan's truck. Skills and Mouth were riding with them, while all the cheerleaders rode with Brooke. Nathan followed Brooke, when the were finally ready to go.

Haley fiddled with the radio the entire ride there. She would have it on one station but then something she hated came on and she had to switch it.

"Haley that was D 12." Nathan whined.

"Yeah, Haley. D 12 is awesome." Skills joined in.

"I'm with Haley on this one." Mouth chimed in.

"Thanks Mouth. Besides I cant sing along with D 12." she said.

"Then don't sing." Skills said.

"I have a solution. Plug in my I pod. It has my music and some of Haley's music. Actually it has lots of Haley's music, because she is evil and programs my I pod for me." he stated.

"I am not evil." she gasped.

"You are. I mean here you are trying to get us to listen to Chris Keller, Sheryl Crowe and other crappy music." he said.

"My music is awesome. And since you don't want Chris Keller or Sheryl Crowe. We'll compromise. None of that, and no crappy rap." she said.

"fine." he agreed.

"Skills? Mouth?" she asked.

"Yeah." Skills said.

"It's good." Mouth answered.

"Good." Haley said smiling evilly. Before plugging the I pod in she chose the appropriate play list. She chuckled when the music filled the truck.

"Ugh. Hales, Backstreet Boys?" Nathan said glaring at her.

"Ahhh my ears." Skills said covering his ears. Mouth just sat back and enjoyed the music.

"Yes the Backstreet Boys. They fell into our compromise quite nicely." she noted.

"This is Exhibit B, for how evil you are." he groaned staring straight ahead at Brooke's black SUV just in front of them.

"Oh well. You know you love me." she said smiling at him.

"Yeah I do, and I don't know why." he said. She smacked his shoulder and the truck went quiet. Skills pulled his I pod out of his bag, and started listening to it, while Mouth laid against the side of the truck. They listened to the entire play list, when "How did I fall in love with you" came on.

"This is the reason I picked this play list, baby." she said.

"Why is that?" he asked.

"Because this song totally dictates exactly how I feel about you. How I never thought we'd ever end up here." she said.

"Let's listen to the song." he said turning the stereo up slightly. As the song played she sang along with it quietly, and Nathan brought his hand over to hers, and laced his fingers through it.

"This really is our song, isn't it?" he mentioned smiling at her.

"It is." she affirmed.

Nathan followed Brooke onto a dirt road, and they drove for a couple more minutes before coming to a stop outside a huge cabin. To call it a cabin would be wrong, considering the size of it.

"You call this a cabin Brooke?" Nathan asked when they climbed out. "It is a cabin. Sure it's a little bigger than normal cabins, but what the hell?" she said going to unlock the door.

When everyone was settled in, Brooke called everyone to the living room.

"Okay, friends. Tonight, and I don't care what anyone says, we are having a truth or dare night. No one can back out." she said.

"Why?" everyone groaned in unison.

"Because its my cabin and I want to play truth or dare." she answered.

"Makes sense I guess." Haley said.

"Thanks tutor girl. Now if Haley's in, everyone else has to be too. Especially you Boy Toy." she said.

"Yeah, especially you Boy Toy." Haley teased.

"I'm gonna get you tonight, when we're playing Truth or Dare." he said.

When Brooke dictated it was time to play, she summoned everyone into the living room. Haley took the chair by the window, because it was hard to sit down on the floor with her leg still not working properly. Nathan sat in front of her. Skills and Mouth sat across the room and Lucas took a seat because Nathan. It was funny, losing basketball for Lucas, made him and Nathan closer than they ever thought they could be. Bevin and Peyton sat beside Brooke.

"Alright here we go. Since I'm the boss, I'm altering the rules a little bit. You don't get to choose who you dare, we'll spin a bottle to dictate you gets who. That way its not always the same people getting picked. And since its my game and my house, I'm going first." she said. She spun the bottle and it landed on Skills.

"Truth or dare, Skills?" she asked.

"I'm gonna chicken out. Truth." he said, slightly nervous at what Brooke Davis could come up with.

"Wimp" Haley called out.

"Okay. Truth. Tell us the name of the girl you've been sneaking around with behind everyone's backs." she said.

"Easy. I've been sneaking around with Bevin Mirksey. I can admit that because we were never sneaking around everyone else was just always too busy with their own lives to notice." he said. Bevin smiled and moved across the room to sit with Skills.

"Alright Skills. Your turn." Brooke instructed.

"Alright." he said spinning the bottle. The bottle landed on Lucas.

"Alright Luke. Truth or dare?" he asked.

"Truth." Lucas said not really wanting to play, still wanting to mourn the loss of basketball.

"Alright. What is your biggest regret?" he asked, still wanting to make Lucas squirm. Still wanting to make Lucas pay for hurting his friend for so many years.

"I honestly don't know. I guess I regret emulating my dad so much. I've hurt a lot of people, and I cant take it back. I hate that I followed in my fathers footsteps." he said.

"Fair enough." Skills said.

"Good. Lucas spin the bottle." Brooke said. Lucas spun the bottle and it landed on Nathan.

"Oooh. Okay Truth or dare Nate?" Lucas said.

" Truth. I don't want to do any embarrassing thing you come up with." Nathan said.

"Okay. Can you honestly say you are the best basketball player North Carolina high schools have to offer?" he asked gauging the extent of Nathan's ego.

"Or course. I can beat you Luke, I can beat anyone." Nathan said confidently.

"Alright this game is totally getting boring. It's not truth. It's truth or dare." she said. Nathan spun the bottle and it landed on Haley.

"Ooooh. Truth or dare Hales?" he asked her.

"I'll liven things up a bit. Dare." she said smiling at Nathan.

"Okay Hales. What should I make you do." Nathan asked smirking at her.

"do your worst." she said smirking back.

"You my dear, are going to sing for me." he said.

"You want me to sing?" she asked shocked.

"Do you give in?" he asked.

" No. What should I sing?" she asked.

"Sing that song from this morning." he told her smiling.

"Fine." she said giving in.

_Remember when, we never needed each other._

_The best of friends_

_Sister and Brother_

_We understood, we'd never be_

_Alone._

_Those days are gone, and I want you so much._

_The night is long, and I need your touch._

_Don't know what to say. Never meant to feel this way. _

_Don't want to be alone tonight._

_What can I do, to make you mine._

_Falling so hard, so fast this time._

_What did I say? What did you do?_

_How did I fall in love with you._

_I hear your voice, and I start to tremble._

_Brings back the child that I resemble._

_I cannot pretend that we can still be friends._

_Don't want to be alone tonight._

_What can I do to make you mine?_

_Falling so hard, so fast this time._

_What did I say? What did you do?_

_How did I fall in love with you?"_

_Oh I want to say this right_

_And it has to be tonight._

_Just need you to know, oh yeah._

_I don't want to live this life._

_I don't want to say goodbye. _

_With you I want to spend the rest of my life._

_What can I do to make you mine?_

_Falling so hard, so fast this time._

_What did I say? What did you do? _

_How did I fall in love with you?_

_What can I do, to make you mine?_

_Falling so hard, so fast this time._

_Everythings changed, we never knew._

_How did I fall in love with you?_

_She finished singing and everyone stared at her curiously. _

"_Wow I never knew you could sing?" Brooke said. _

"_No one knew I could sing. Hell, I don't know if I can sing." she said shyly. _

"_You can. You're voice is incredible." Brooke assured her. _

"_Thanks Brooke." she said smiling. _

"_You were amazing baby." Nathan said pulling her close to his side. _

"_Thanks. I've never sung in front of people before. The only place I ever sang was in the shower." she admitted. _

"_You were perfect." he told her. _

"_Thanks Nathan. But I'm getting tired, I'm gonna head up to bed." she said. _

"_I'll come too." Nathan said taking her hand. Gingerly, she walked up the stairs, her leg retaliating from her walking up the stairs. _

"_Is you're leg okay?" he asked concerned. _

"_It's a little sore." Haley admitted. When they made it to their bedroom, Haley immediately climbed into the big plush bed. Nathan shut off the light and walked around to the other side before climbing in. Haley immediately inched over so she was lying in his arms, finding that there was no better way to sleep. _

"_Thanks you." she whispered in the darkness. _

"_For what?" he asked. _

"_Just being you. Being so supportive through this whole thing. For loving me. For allowing me to love you, even though there are so many more girls better for you than me." she said. _

"_I love you Hales." he said leaving no room for argument. _

"_I love you too. Now lets get some sleep." she said. Nathan nodded his assent and closed his eyes. Neither could wait to see what tomorrow would bring them. _


	18. Chapter 18

hope you enjoy the chaper despite the long wait. not too sure how i feel about this one but even after all my rewrites i couldnt make it sound right. Who else is stoked for One Tree Hill being renewed for a ninth season. So happy. Let me know what you think of the chapter?

PS i own nothing, just my ideas.

* * *

The next morning brought sunshine and really nice weather. Haley flat out refused to spend the day inside when it was that nice out.

"Nathan please lets go for a walk." she begged.

"Why? There's a basketball game on." he whined.

"Because its too nice to spent the day inside. You have to get out. Basketball can wait." she said.

"Haley. I want to watch the game. We can go for a walk later." he bargained.

"No. If we don't go now, then we wont go at all. And I wont speak to you for the rest of the day." she said crossing her arms across her chest.

"Like that bothers me. It'll be nice and quiet then." he said planting himself down in front of the TV.

"Fine. If you don't go with me now, I will never kiss you again. And you'll be sleeping on the floor tonight." she said glaring at him.

"Alright lets go for this walk." he said.

"Good plan." she said taking his hand and pulling him outside. She laced their fingers together and they walked down by the river. They walked in silence neither knowing what to say. They didn't need to say anything, the silence was peaceful. Haley leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked, and Nathan let go of her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulder pulling her close to him. He kissed the top of her head. She smiled at him, unable to believe just how much she loved him. Finding a bench she decided to take a rest.

"Lets sit down for a while." she suggested.

"Okay." he answered sitting down beside her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nathan staring at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing really. Just marvelling at how beautiful you are, and how much I love you." he said.

"I love you too Nathan." she said leaning in and kissing him tenderly. This kiss was different than many of the other ones they had shared over the couple months they had been dating, this one was more filled with love and the promise of eternity than any other one. Nathan felt it when they separated.

When he broke the kiss Nathan looked at her unable to believe that his feelings for her could get any stronger. He thought they were already at their strongest and yet he wasn't disappointed to be proven wrong. This weekend had been hard on him physically something he'd never tell her, because he knew she wanted to wait until marriage. But during all their alone time, their make out sessions had gotten more passionate, their kisses more torrid and visceral. He wanted her so much, but he wouldn't pressure her, he couldn't. after sitting for a while longer he stood up and offered her his hand pulling her up. Together, they slowly walked back to the cabin.

"There you guys are. Skills and Mouth were looking for you." she said.

"Where are they?" Haley asked.

"After they gave up, they went and took the ATV's out in the woods." she said.

"Oh is there another ATV?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah. Its in the garage." she said.

"Okay, lets go Hales." he said taking her hand and pulling her to the garage. When she was seated behind him, with her arms wrapped around his waist and her head leaned between his shoulder blades they were on their way. It didn't take them long to find Mouth and Skills, they were a little ways away on the trail.

"Hey guys." Nathan said when he parked his ATV.

"Hey, we were looking for you guys." Mouth said.

"Well, we're here now." Haley said smiling at her friend.

"Good. Let's go ride around. We wanted to hang with our friends so lets hang." Skills said.

"Race to the river?" Nathan suggested.

"Yeah." Mouth said excited.

"Okay. On the count of 3." Haley said. Once she counted to three they took off. Haley wrapped her arms tighter around Nathan, loving the feel of him so close to her. Reaching forward a little bit, she kissed the back of his neck, before relaxing back into his body. She seen the river approaching, and of course seeing the water emerging quickly, frightened her slightly. They stopped a little away from the water, with Skills and Mouth following slightly behind them.

"That was fun." Nathan said.

"It was." Mouth agreed. After sitting there for a while longer, they turned back heading for the cabin.

When they returned, Brooke was sitting outside with the cheerleaders, donned in their bikini's.

"Go get you're suits, we're going to the lake for a swim. It's too hot not too." she instructed.

"Bossy much?" Nathan asked as they walked into the house.

"My cabin. My rules. Get you're suit boytoy." she said pointing to the door with a smile on her face.

"Yes, ma'am." he said saluting her, and the four of them walked into the house to change.

A few minutes later everyone was at the lake, complete with swinging rope.

"I am so not going on that." Haley said.

"Come on Hales." Nathan begged.

"But my leg." she said.

"You're doctor said you can do everything again. Just do it in moderation." he reminded her.

"It was a bad idea to let you come with me to my doctors appointments." she noted.

"Please Hales. I'll go first." he bargained.

"Fine. If you don't survive I'm not going." she warned him.

"Deal." he agreed holding out his hand for her to shake. She took his hand shaking it firmly.

"Are you guys coming?" Brooke called from the water, where everyone was already playing.

"Just a second." Nathan called. Nathan walked to the rope and grasped it in his hand. Haley kissed Nathan before he swung from the rope. She watched him fly through the air, and couldn't deny that it looked fun. Seeing the rope swing back towards her, she grasped onto it, and swung from the rope. When she landed in the water, and swam back to the top she immediately found Nathan. She swam over to him and through her arms around his neck.

"That was so much fun." she said.

"I know. I told you." he said. She kissed him passionately taking him off guard.

"Thank you for making me do that." she said thanking him.

"No problem. I knew you could do it. And I knew you would do it amazingly well." he told her.

"Thanks." she said thanking him once more. Seeing Skills creeping up behind them, Haley backed out of Nathan's embrace just before Skills dunked him. Haley laughed when Nathan came back up sputtering water.

"I'm going to get you." he said swimming towards her. Haley started backing away trying to avoid the look on Nathan's eyes.

"No. No. Please don't." she whined as she backed away from him.

"Oh. You let Skills get me. So I'm gonna get you." he said pursuing her like a predator. He dove under the water, and Haley stilled her movements. Haley looked around, for any sign that he was near. It was unexpected when he grabbed her foot pulling her down. She screamed before holding her breath and being pulled down. When Nathan released her, she swam back to the top. He emerged seconds later a couple feet away from her.

"You an ass." she said.

"I know but you love me anyways." he said swimming closer to her.

"Yeah, and I don't know why." she said.

"Sure you do. You love me because I'm hot." he said wrapping his arms around her.

"There's that. But I also love you because your you. There's no one out there that understands me like you do. And even now that our relationship is going forward, you're not pressuring me. I love you for that too. Thank you for this weekend Nathan." she said.

"You don't have to thank me. I want to thank you for being understanding about all my uncontrollable bodily functions that you cause in me." he said pulling her face to his and kissing her softly. Haley deepened the kiss, pulling him flush against her body.

"Get a room!" Skills called out causing the young couple to break apart.

"Shut up Skills." Nathan said smiling, when Haley buried her face in Nathan's chest.

"You two have done nothing but make out all weekend. Let's go watch the Bobcats kick some ass." Skills whined.

"That sounds awesome, yeah lets go." Nathan said. Haley grasped Nathan's hand pulling him to a stop.

"No basketball." she said.

"Aw Hales. Please." he begged.

"Yeah, Haley, let the boys go watch their game. We'll find something better to do. In fact, I think us girls should go sit in the Jacuzzi." she suggested.

"Okay. Sounds good to me." Haley said. Nathan leaned in to kiss her softly before following Skills out of the lake.

"Good, now that they're gone. Let's get to the hot tub." Brooke said clapping her hands. Haley followed Brooke to the hot tub and they all climbed in.

"Okay. Now that the boys are gone. We all need to talk boys." Brooke said smiling.

"Uh, B Davis. I don't have a boy here with me." Peyton told her best friend.

"I know P Sawyer. You can just talk boys in general. Although the real reason we are in fact talking boys is because our dear friend Haley James is dating our hot shot basketball player, and I want to know how its going. Besides I don't have an official boy either." Brooke explained.

"So we're going to interrogate Haley about her relationship with Nathan, even though she's been sitting here this whole conversation and knows our plan?" Peyton clarified.

"Yes. The way I see it is she's been warned, and she's still here." Brooke said.

"Good point." Peyton agreed.

"So Haley, how did you and Nathan meet?" Brooke started off easy.

"We were 3 and my mom took me to Karen's Café because she needed coffee and Nathan was there with his mom." Haley explained.

"When did you become friends?" Peyton asked.

"That day. We played together for a couple hours as my mom loved seeing me having fun. Her and Karen hit it off really well too." Haley said.

"When did you become best friends?" Brooke asked.

"The day when we were ten. Dan was yelling at Nathan and I reacted by telling Dan off. Nathan also says that was the day he fell in love with me." she said smiling at the memory.

"Now when did you fall in love with him?" Peyton asked, continuing in the pattern Brooke had started. "I don't know when I fell for him. I cant pinpoint the exact day. It just gradually happened. But it was only a few months ago when we admitted those feelings." Haley told them.

"Yeah. I remember your first date. Nathan asked me to help him and he sent you over to my house without you knowing. And I dressed you and did your makeup." Brooke remembered.

"Yeah. Thank you for that Brooke. That was the best night ever, he went to so much trouble making all those clues for me to follow to make it to our final destination." Haley reminisced.

"You two have been through a lot as far as I can see. I know I don know you very well, but I've known Nathan since he started on the team, I mean I'm a cheerleader and he's the star player. But it was odd when he first started playing on the team, he got ribbed a lot because he didn't want to go to the parties or anything like that. He only wanted to hang out with you. But later on, he started balancing the two." Peyton said smiling at the girl she had never had much to do with.

"that was when he started dating and sleeping with tons of girls. Now that I think about it, that was when I first acknowledged my feelings for him. The first time I walked into his bedroom and found him and one of his girlfriends making out." Haley winced at the memory.

"Yeah. But its amazing how completely devoted he is to you. I think I can say the same for Brooke when I say that you're so lucky. I wish there was someone who loved me that way. The only guy I've ever liked is an ass." Peyton said. Brooke smiled sympathetically at Peyton before smiling broadly at Haley.

"Well, you're both lucky. There's no one that I want for more than just a night." Brooke said.

"Before you all start thinking Nathan's such an angel or the most amazing guy on the planet, you have to know he has flaws." she said rolling her eyes at the way they were talking.

"Oh really. What are they?" Peyton asked.

"Um. He's egotistical, I mean his ego takes up an entire room. He cannot dance to save his life. He doesn't focus on school. He steals fries off my plate. He whines incessantly about early school mornings. His smirk makes me want to kill him…" she listed.

"Or kiss him." Brooke interjected.

"Or kiss him." Haley agreed smiling.

"That's not so bad. What are some of the good things about him?" Peyton asked.

"His smile. He's not bad to look at. His passion for the game. How much he loves his family. How much he loves our friends. His smirk is hypnotic. His eyes are the most beautiful color I've ever seen. He doesn't pressure me to go further in our relationship than I'm ready for. The way he loves me. The way I love him. He is the most amazing guy on the planet." Haley admitted smiling.

"I'll say this for me and Peyton, we think its amazing that you're in love. I mean I know we didn't know you before a few months ago, but now I at least feel that you're one of my good friends. And I'm happy that someone in our messed up world is happy with another person." she said.

"Thanks Brooke. Now what do you say that we go inside and turn off the basketball game. The only person that might be okay with it will be Mouth." Haley said.

"That'll be fun. A room full of angry boys." Brooke said grinning.

"Lets do it." Peyton said. The girls got out of the hot tub and wrapped towels around them before running into the house. They could hear a round of cheering from upstairs in the TV room and they followed the sound. They walked in the room and could see the boys cheering and highfiving.

"Is that team you like winning. The cute fluffy cat things?" Haley asked Nathan.

"Bobcats. Haley. Bobcats." he said while Skills and Lucas stared at her with their mouths wide open.

"What? Its not my fault I know nothing about basketball." she said.

"You are dating the star player of the Ravens and you know nothing about basketball?" Lucas asked incredulously.

"Yeah and I can admit it. I hate basketball. I watch Nathan play because he looks amazing doing it, but other than that basketball or any sports really, do not get along." she explained.

"Then why are you in here?" Nathan asked smiling at her.

"To do this." she said before sitting down on his lap and kissing him, while without him knowing tossing the TV remote to Brooke who changed the channel.

"Hey we were watching that." the three boys rang out simultaneously.

"And now you're not. We want to watch TV." Brooke said slipping in between Lucas and Skills, while Peyton took the chair in the corner and Bevin sat on Skills's lap.

"Let's watch…" Brooke said scrolling through the channels before she landed "America's next top model."

"America's next top model." she suggested knowing the boys would hate the idea. The guys all groaned simultaneously being resigned to watching the show.

The next morning came and everyone was packing their clothes to go home. When they were all packed, they all stood outside.

"Thanks for this Brooke. Really." Haley said hugging her friend.

"We all needed to get away. It was fun. We should do it again." Brooke said standing with Peyton. When everyone was ready to go, they divided and climbed into the respective cars. Mouth rode with Nathan and Haley while Skills road with Brooke, so he could go with Bevin. No one wanted the weekend to end but they all knew real life had to start back up again sometime. Knowing their was school again on Monday and knowing that despite all they tried to do, that day would be with them forever. They all drove on home, trying to hold onto the last shred of the most amazing weekend any of them had ever been a part of.


	19. Chapter 19

let me know what you think about this chapter. Just a bunch of fluffy nothingness and a new character that everyone knows and loves. hope you enjoy it.

PS i own nothing.

* * *

"Missing the cabin yet?" Nathan asked as he joined her at their table for lunch Thursday. They had been back to school for a couple days by then.

"A little. I loved all the free time we had while we were there. But I'm happy to be back at school too. Are you missing it?" she asked.

"Tons. Unlike you I have no use and no interest in going to school." he told her rolling his blue eyes.

"Sure you do. If you don't go to school, you wont graduate and you wont go on to Duke to play for the Blue Devils." she said.

"Ah! Blue Devils! I'm so proud." he said impressed.

"Good." she said smiling at her boyfriend. Nathan leaned forward and kissed her softly, needing to feel her soft lips against his own. They kissed until the bell rang and Haley abruptly pulled away.

"Gotta get to class, I'll see you after school." she said before hurrying off. He smiled and grabbed his bag and walked in the opposite direction towards his own class.

Haley joined up with Brooke and Peyton on their way to the gym, for gym class.

"Hey, how's it going?" she asked when she joined them.

"Pretty good." Brooke said. The girls walked into the gym and saw Whitey sitting on the bleachers.

"Alright ladies. Coach McEntire is sick today, and probably for the rest of the day, therefore you have to deal with me." he said staring at the group of girls and hoping and praying for some sort of relief. Nothing more terrifying to him than teaching a group of girls.

"You're teaching our class Coach Durham?" Brooke asked stifling giggles. "Something funny Miss Davis? Go change." he instructed. All the girls filed into the changing room and changed into their gym clothes. Whitey was wheeling a tray of basketballs out of the equipment room when the emerged from the change room.

"We just finished basketball." Brooke said seeing the balls.

"I don't care. I am a basketball coach, and for this week and the rest of the time it takes for your teacher to come back, you are my other team. I am treating you like my basketball team, now grab a ball and show me what you got." he said. The girls all gasped and reluctantly grabbed a ball. They stood in a line and took turns in trying to make the ball go through the net. Every girl that missed caused Whitey to grow more an more irritable.

"I cant believe none of you can make a free throw!" he called exasperated. The girls looked on sheepishly as Whitey started pacing.

"35 years of coaching and I have finally found a group of people that none of them can hit a shot. This is awful and I'm stuck with it for God knows how long." he ranted. The girls stood in the gym waiting for further instruction.

"Just keep trying. I'm gonna think of something." he said going to sit on the bleachers muttering the entire time. Brooke started giggling uncontrollably and inevitably Peyton and Haley joined in.

"He acts like it's a surprise that we cant play basketball." Haley said.

"He shouldn't be that surprised." Peyton said.

Everyone took turns shooting and missing, it was mostly a free class with 24 girls shooting on two hoops.

"Ah ha." Whitey said walking over to them.

"What's up coach?" Haley asked.

"Tomorrow and for the rest of the week, you are going to have extra coaching. The playoffs are coming up and I can reserve the right to pull my players from class as long as they get all assignments handed in. Until you're teacher comes back, my varsity Raven's are going to be joining our class." Whitey said immensely proud of his ingenuity.

"But there's not enough boys to go around." one girl called out.

"When we run out of boys I will go onto my reserves and everyone else. I have more than 24 players. And besides Lucas can come off the bench for this activity." he said. Girls started swooning when Lucas's name was mentioned, but on the other side of the room, there was a group of girls fighting over Nathan. Haley stared at them in disbelief, she couldn't believe that they were fighting over her boyfriend.

"Ladies, stop that bickering. My players will be picking their protégé, based on preferably extent of help you guys need." he said. The girls stopped arguing and went back to throwing the balls around and Whitey went back to his perch on the bleachers. A few minutes before class ended Whitey sent them to go change, when the bell rang Haley, Brooke and Peyton walked to their next class.

"This is so exciting, we get to spend the next several classes with hot basketball players." Brooke said happily.

"Yeah. Although I must say Nathan has already tried to help me with basketball I don't think anyone can do it." she said. The girls all had history together, and while they were walking they walked past a guy who was obviously new and lost. He was tall, gangly and had a mass of curly brown hair.

"Do you need help?" Haley asked him when they were walking by.

"Uh, yeah, that would be awesome actually. Do you know where Mrs. Jackson's history class is?" he asked shyly.

"Actually we're heading that way now. You can walk with us." Haley said.

"Thanks." the boy said as he followed them. Brooke and Peyton were walking a little ahead of Haley and the boy, but every couple seconds Brooke glanced back at him. Haley and Peyton both noticed this.

"So what's your name?" Haley asked trying to make conversation.

"Julian Baker." he said shyly.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Haley James. This is Brooke Davis and Peyton Sawyer." she said introducing her friends hoping to give Brooke an opening to talk to Julian.

"Nice to meet you." he said politely.

"Likewise." Peyton said, Brooke just smiled at the boy you managed to make her speechless. Just before they wandered into class, Haley turned to Julian.

"You should eat lunch with us tomorrow. It would be fun. My other friends are really nice." she said kindly. She was rewarded with a smile from Julian.

"That would be awesome." he said before walking up to the teacher. Haley, Brooke and Peyton all went to sit down before the teacher started her lecture.

Haley met up with Nathan after school was over and they walked hand in hand to his car.

"I met this new guy today. His name is Julian Baker. I invited him to sit with us tomorrow. He doesn't know anyone yet. And I think Brooke is crushed out on him." she said.

"Brooke? Crushed out? New boy?" Nathan asked flabbergasted.

"Yeah, I know. Shocking huh?" she said laughing at Nathan's reaction.

"So I hear me and the rest of the team are coming in to your gym class tomorrow to teach you to play basketball." he said changing the subject.

"I guess so. But I gotta tell you baby, you don't stand a chance." she said teasingly.

"Wanna bet?" he asked.

"No thanks. I don't wanna take your money." she said laughing.

"You're loss. Although I think in reality it would be me taking your money from you." he said.

"Not a chance. You know that I am absolutely hopeless when it comes to any sports. And no matter how good you are wont help me one bit." she said.

"Uh huh. What about your leg Hales? Are you supposed to be doing gym?" he asked with a worried expression on his face.

"The doctor said use my best judgement. don't overdo it. I can do a little bit of running and what not. And standing around and tossing a ball through a hoop puts virtually no strain on my leg." she assured him.

"Okay." told her, before pulling up in front of her house. She leaned over and kissed him goodbye before climbing out of the car and walking into the house.

Nathan walked in the door on connected to his room just in case his mom and Keith were in the living room making out. He dropped his bag on his bed before opening his bedroom door and slowly walking down the hallway.

"Mom? Keith? Is it safe to enter?" he asked.

"Yes its safe." Karen called trying to hold back laughter.

"Why are you laughing? This is the furthest thing from funny." he told her scowling.

"How is this not funny? I mean you're oh so cautious walking through the house, as if you're afraid you'll walk in on Keith and I doing something." she said.

"I still don't see the humour in the situation." he said holding his scowl in place.

"I mean seriously. You're at Haley's all the time and her parents make out in public areas all the time. Sometimes they do more in living areas of the house." Karen argued.

"I know. And believe me, Haley feels the same way about it as I do mom." he said.

"but just so you know, we've been making an effort to keep it in the bedroom." Karen said.

"Thank you mom. By the way where is Keith?" he asked, just noticing that he wasn't around.

"At the auto shop. He had a few calls and needed to get the cars fixed for his customers." she explained.

"Oh. Well I'm gonna go do my homework." he said standing up.

"Who are you and what have you don't with my son?" Karen asked her son.

"Haley wont speak to me or hang out with me until my homework is done." he said.

"I knew I liked Haley for a reason." Karen mused. Nathan laughed and walked into his bedroom and sat at the desk wrestling with calculus.

Meanwhile, Haley sat in her room wrestling with writing an essay for literature. She didn't know how to write it. The topic "How would you spend you're time if you only had a short amount left?" had her completely baffled. She had had her own near death experience and from that experience she knew that she regretted not spending even more time with Nathan. She didn't know how to put that into words. Anyway she wrote it, made her sound like a lovesick teenager which she was, but she wanted it to sound more mature, more Haley-ish. But she couldn't do it. Eventually she came up with a way to write it that sounded both honest and mature. Yawning, she printed the essay and changed into her pyjama's and sliding into bed.

The next morning came too quick and she slowly dressed for school. By the time she was ready, Nathan was honking the horn outside. Plastering a smile on her face she walked out the front door and climbed in the passenger seat, before leaning over and kissing Nathan quick.

"How was your night?" she asked.

"Let's see, I did my homework and watched TV with my mom and Keith." he answered smiling at her.

"Who are you and what did you do with my real boyfriend." she said shocked,

"Ha ha. My mom said almost the same thing. What did you do last night?" he asked.

"Fought with an essay that I couldn't figure out how to write." he admitted.

"Oh, did you finish?" he asked.

"Yeah." she answered.

"That's my girl. Is it due today?" he asked.

"No. next week." she answered just as they pulled into the parking lot. They went and sat at their table which now consisted of them, Skills and Bevin, Mouth, Junk, Fergie, Brooke, Peyton and sometimes Lucas. They went and took their seats and started talking animatedly. Haley glanced to the side and saw Julian walking onto the quad by himself and taking a seat at a table off to the side somewhere. Haley kissed Nathan on the cheek before getting up and walking over to Julian.

"Do you want to come sit with us?" she asked.

"Uh….its fine." he said opening his math book.

"It's okay. I insist. They're really nice." she assured him.

"Okay." he agreed. He got up and followed her to the table. When she got back to her seat, she patted the one next to her, which was also next to Brooke.

"Everyone this is Julian Baker, he just moved here from…" she said trailing off and looking at him.

"LA." he answered.

"LA." Haley repeated smiling at him. "Julian, these are my friends. You already know Brooke and Peyton, but that is Lucas Scott, a former Raven, Skills, Bevin, Junk, Fergie, Mouth, and this is Nathan." she said.

"Nice to meet you all." he said shyly. Everyone nodded and smiled at Julian who blushed slightly under all the attention.

Brooke watched Julian out of the corner of her eye, he was cute she thought. She didn't understand how this Julian made her feel different somehow. It didn't make sense, they hadn't even spoken two words to each other. But yet somehow, he made her feel like butterflies had erupted inside her, and she felt like she was flying. This was a feeling Brooke had never experienced before and she was sure that it had something to do with the boy beside her, because she only felt it the two times she been around him. It was official, Brooke Davis was crushed out on a boy.

"Uh, does anyone know where I can go to join the mathletes?" Julian piped up.

"I actually don't even know. I would check at the office." Haley said.

"Oh thanks." Julian said smiling.

Brooke was mesmerized by the smile on Julian's face, it was beautiful. His whole face lit up when he smiled. So what if he wanted to be a mathlete? That was fine with her. Never before would Brooke Davis have ever considered a boy who was a mathlete. But somehow without even one word aimed in her direction, this boy changed her.

The day went by quickly until it was time for gym. Like yesterday Whitey was sitting on the bleachers, but unlike yesterday the basketball players were gathered around Whitey already changed into their practice uniforms. The girls change room was comical to say the least, most of the girls were putting makeup on and making sure their hair was perfect, trying to guarantee being picked by one of the varsity players, preferably Nathan. Haley heard a few girls asking others which hairstyle or which color of eyeshadow Nathan would like best. She glanced over to see Brooke and Peyton laughing, so Haley joined in. Haley Brooke and Peyton walked out and stood on their side of the gym right across from where Lucas, Nathan and Nathan's friend Clay were standing.

"This could be perfect. Nathan will pick Haley, Lucas can pick Peyton and Clay can pick me, just so we can all be together." Brooke suggested, knowing that Peyton liked Lucas.

"That would be cool." Haley agreed. A few minutes later the rest of the class appeared from the change rooms, and Whitey rolled his eyes at the perfectly made up girls that emerged.

"You do realize this is gym class right?" he asked.

"Yes, and we wanted to look good for obvious reasons." one girl stated.

"Whatever. Stand in a line and face my team. They're going to choose their girls." he said, gesturing for the boys to get into a line.

"Okay we'll start at the front. Evan's you go first." he said to Clay. Brooke crossed her fingers hoping that her plan went according to plan and that Tim Smith didn't get her, ]

"I'll take Brooke Davis." he called out. Brooke jumped in the air happily and hugged her friends before walking over to join Clay.

"Lucas. Now I know you don't want to do this, since your not on the team anymore. But think of it this way, you'll be really helping me out, and you'll get to spend some one on one time with a pretty girl of your choice." he said.

"It's fine coach. I'll take Peyton." he called. Peyton smiled slightly and walked over to join him.

"Nathan." Whitey said already knowing who he was going to pick.

"Hmmm… I think I'll pick… I don't know… I'll take Haley. Of course." he said deliberating for the benefit of the other girls in the line. All the other girls were dejected.

"Tim." Whitey said.

"I'll take Carrie." he said smirking. Carrie sulked and joined Tim. Once everyone had chosen, Whitey stepped to the middle of the gym.

"Now, these are your partners until gym goes back to normal. Go play. I don't care what you do, as long as you're playing basketball. Boys teach the girls how to make a free throw preferably." he said going to sit on the bleachers.

"You're in for it." Haley said as she bumped her hip into Nathan's as they made their way along with Brooke, Clay, Peyton and Lucas to the basketball net.

"Like I said yesterday, I bet I can teach you to throw a perfect free throw." he said that familiar smirk on his handsome face.

"And I bet you cant." she said taking the ball out of his hands.

"Oh, this is going to be a fun class." Brooke squealed from beside Clay and Peyton.


	20. Chapter 20

i dont really like this chapter. but i needed some sort of drama, even though i would much rather write happy fluff. this drama will probably be one more chapter and then we can get back to the good stuff. let me know what you think, hopefully you like this more than i do. thank you for all you're wonderful reviews, they make my day.

PS i own nothing but my ideas.

* * *

"I give up. You are officially hopeless." Nathan said after watching Haley miss dozens of free throws.

"Told you. Me and basketball do not mix, and we never will." she said.

"You are never going to pass this class." Nathan said exasperated.

"Well how about this. Now that you've given up on teaching me, maybe we can include Brooke, Peyton, Lucas and Clay and have a three on three basketball game." she suggested.

"Good plan. Boys versus girls?" he suggested.

"Great idea." Haley said as Brooke and Peyton came to stand by her.

"Just to be fair, we'll give you girls the ball first." Nathan teased handing the ball to Haley.

"You arrogant jackass." Haley said mock glaring at him.

"What?" he asked feigning innocence. Determination flooded across Haley's features, as she became determined to beat Nathan, she quickly passed the ball to Brooke who began running with it, towards the net.

"Throw it Brooke, throw it." Peyton chanted as she tried to block Lucas from chasing Brooke. Brooke obeyed and tossed the ball aimlessly which miraculously made it to the net. Brooke jumped up and down cheering.

"Damn it." Nathan, Clay and Lucas all said at the same time.

"You do realize we're getting beaten by girls right?" Clay pointed out.

"Shut up Evan's." Nathan said.

"Yeah, Nate, you do realize you're getting beaten by girls right?" Haley teased sidling up to him.

"You are so going to pay Haley James." he threatened. "I'm so scared." she teased before running off. Nathan laughed before resuming the game. They played for a while longer before Whitey called for everyone to go get changed. Towards the end of the game they had stopped keeping score, but both teams thought they were victorious.

"Oh shut up we so won." Haley said walking towards the change rooms.

"Oh no you didn't. You guys cheated the entire game. You fouled, you travelled. You more or less played a completely unfair game. Especially when you distracted me in the middle of the game which allowed Peyton to score." he argued.

"I used my resources. Who knew the ability to kiss you breathless would come in so handy someday." she joked.

"Yeah, who knew?" he said as he walked into the boys change room. Haley laughed before walking into the girls change room.

"You do realize that you're temporary right? I mean he's only with you until he realized that I am the one for him." Carrie said when Haley walked into the change room. Haley chose to keep quiet not wanting to get involved with anything.

"Ah you must realize that. I mean you're not fighting back so you must know that. You must know that Nathan is only with you because he feels some sort of responsibility towards you. But sooner or later he will realize that dating a hot cheerleader like me is much better than dating an plain, ugly nerd like you." Carrie said.

"Hey. You better stop right now." Brooke said threateningly when she heard what Carrie was saying to Haley.

"Or what? I'm just telling her the truth, something that you don't know how to do." Carrie accused.

"Or what? Last time I was the captain of the cheerleaders. And you are just a cheerleader, so if you want to remain on my squad you will shut up about my friend. Haley and Nathan are meant to be and I believe that. It's time for you to understand that if you do anything to affect that or ruin them in any way I will get you." Brooke said getting right in Carrie's face.

"You cant kick me off the squad, on top of that you wont. I'm one of the best cheerleaders you've got. So really you cant hurt me, and I can hurt Haley all I want." she said before locking her locker and striding out of the change room.

"I really hate her." Brooke said sitting down on the bench next to Haley and Peyton.

"Thanks for helping me Brooke. But I don't want you to tear you're squad apart just because she's saying crap about me." Haley insisted.

"You're my friend Haley, and that means I will stand up for you. And I know that Nathan would feel the same way." Brooke said.

"Speaking of Nathan, he was going to walk me to class so I should get changed." she said grabbing her clothes and going to change.

Nathan was waiting outside the change room when Carrie came walking out.

"Damn it." he said to himself when he seen her making a bee line right for him.

"Hey Nate. How's it going?" she asked when she walked up beside him.

"What do you want Carrie?" he asked irritated at all the advances she had made on him in the past couple months.

"I have to have a reason to come talk to you?" she asked.

"Yeah you do. What do you want?" he demanded moving away from her a little bit.

"I just wanted to see you. You know I'm the best cheerleader and you're the best player. We're meant to be Nathan, just you wait and see." she said taking a step closer to him.

"You're missing a couple huge, important details. Number one, I don't like you. Number two, I am in love with Haley, and I always will be. Live with it." he said.

"Nathan you know as well as I do that you're only with you because you feel obligated to do so. She's a nerd Nathan, that's not our style." she insisted placing a hand on his arm.

"It's not your style. But Haley is my style and she always will be. I love her, and I swear to God if you do anything to hurt her I will make you regret it. She's been through enough." he said when he seen her walking with Brooke and Peyton out of the change room. He immediately walked up to her, automatically noticing that she didn't look pleased.

"Is everything okay?" he asked as he took her hand.

"Everything's fine." she answered sighing.

"Haley we've been friends for 14 years. I know when something's wrong. Tell me." he insisted.

"I'll tell you later. But right now I just want to get through the rest of today." she said.

"Okay." he said walking with her to calculus the one class they shared. They walked into class and took their seats, Nathan watched Haley worried from across the room. She immediately focused on her work, blocking everything from the forefront of her mind.

Concentrating in class was difficult considering Carrie sat two seats behind her and Nathan was on the other side. She could feel the glares directed at her for the majority of the class, and despite what she told herself and Brooke, she wasn't sure she could handle it. She felt Nathan's eyes on her from across the room, and felt the worry he emitted from him. She knew he was worried,, and it was worse because she had yet to tell him what was bothering her. She wasn't sure she wanted him to know. Haley knew how he would react and she didn't want him to worry like that. Needless to say it worried her, how she was going to respond. Nathan wanted her to tell him what happened, but she didn't want to worry him. It was a definite catch 22, on one hand telling Nathan, on the other not telling him. They both had they're benefits, they both had their drawbacks. She had no idea which to do, so instead she tried her best to push it to the back of her mind and focus on the calculus in front of her.

When the bell rang Haley quickly gathered her stuff, trying to avoid anything with Carrie. But she wasn't quite quick enough, because when Carrie had her stuff packed up, she purposefully walked past Haley's desk and muttered quietly enough so no one heard "You better watch you're back." Haley sighed and left the room as quick as she could, needing to get away. Nathan followed her out chasing her out to the parking lot.

"Haley, are you planning on telling me what's wrong?" he asked softly walking beside her.

"I'm just having some problems with girls in school." she said.

"Carrie?" he asked knowingly.

"Yeah." Haley admitted.

"Don't worry about her. There's nothing she can do. We're together and that means everything to me. I wont risk that. But do you mind taking my car home, I have something to take care of." he said.

"I can wait for you." she offered.

"No. take the car. It might take a while, so I'll have Lucas or somebody drive me to your house to pick up the car." he said.

"Does this have something to do with me and Carrie?" she asked.

"No. Just an extra basketball practice." he lied.

"Okay. I'll see you later." she said reaching up to kiss him before walking over to the drivers side and climbing in.

With a purpose Nathan walked back towards the school before running into Brooke.

"Hey Brooke can you help me?" he asked.

"Sure what's up?" she asked.

"Carrie's been being a bitch to Haley recently. I want to deal with it. I just don't know how." he admitted.

"Okay. I think I might have taken care of it already though Nate. In class today I told her that if she didn't leave you guys alone I would kick her off the squad. I think its over Nate. Come back to me if she continues to torture Haley." Brooke said.

"Okay. Thanks Brooke. By and chance can you give me a ride to Haley's? I told her to take my truck home." he said.

"Sure." she said before walking out to her car with Nathan following.

The next week at school it wasn't any better, in fact it was worse. Much worse. Every day, she made snide comments about Haley whenever she was around, and though she wouldn't admit it, they hurt. Each one made her question her relationship with Nathan, wondering if the pain she was going through right now was worth it. Whether her relationship was worth the torture she would undoubtedly receive for the duration of the school year. Just the thought of ending things with him, put an ache in her heart that almost paralyzed her. One afternoon, she was walking to her history class alone when she ran into Carrie again. Haley raised her chin with as much dignity as she could muster and walked past Carrie. Carrie put her foot out just enough for Haley to catch thus tripping her hand sending her tumbling to the floor, her books spilling around her.

"Oh my God you're such a klutz. Why is Nathan with you again?" she teased while Haley sat on the floor holding her still partially injured leg. Carrie and her friends walked away laughing, and Haley pulled herself to the wall trying to use it to help her stand.

"Are you okay?" Haley heard a voice say to her. She lifted her head to see Julian standing there holding his hand out.

"I'll be fine." she said accepting his hand gratefully and letting him help her pull her to her feet. Her leg hurt that crazy and she couldn't put any pressure on it.

"Damn it. Just as it was almost healed." Haley groaned trying to walk to history.

"I seen everything that happened. Why did she do that?" he wondered walking slowly to class with Haley.

"She wants Nathan, and I have Nathan." Haley said telling him the short version of the story. When they made it to class Haley hobbled to her seat across from Brooke.

"Haley what happened?" she asked seeing her friend hobble into the room. "I fell." she said noncommittally.

"Are you sure that was all it was?" she asked having her own ideas of what happened.

"Yes. I just overdid it in gym and my leg gave out." she lied.

"You better rest it today." Brooke said.

"I know. I have to go to the doctor after school to see if anything is wrong. It feels like it did right after the surgery." Haley admitted.

"You do that." Brooke said before turning to the front of the room. When class was over, Haley hobbled out of the room and towards Nathan's truck since the school day was over.

"Hey, you're Brooke right?" Julian chased after Brooke after class.

"Yeah." Brooke said plastering a smile on her face.

"You're friends with Haley?" he asked.

"Yes." Brooke agreed.

"Okay. She lied to you. I seen everything that happened. Haley didn't fall. That awful cheerleader girl tripped her and she fell. She couldn't even stand after it was done. What happened to her leg that made even something like tripping cause her so much pain?" he wondered.

"She was shot in the school shooting a few weeks back. She was finally coming back, it was finally getting better. Her doctor told her to take it easy and be careful. Do everything in moderation, falling on it was not part of the instructions. You said the awful cheerleader?" she clarified.

"Yeah.. I don't know her name." he admitted.

"I know exactly who did this. Thank you Julian." she said smiling at him.

"You're welcome." he said wanting to help his friend as much as he could. Brooke hurried, hoping to catch Nathan before he left the school.

Haley walked out to Nathan's truck trying to hide her limp as much as possible. When she got to the truck Nathan wasn't there yet so she leaned against the door waiting for him. She pulled her injured leg up so she could take some pressure off of it. She seen Nathan walking across the quad and when he got close to her he leaned in and kissed her softy. As he usually did, he opened the passenger door for her but this time he noticed something was wrong with the way she struggled climbing up into the truck.

"Are you okay Hales?" he asked.

"I hurt my leg today at school. Overdid it in gym and then the klutz that I am I tripped over nothing while walking to class. I'm gonna get my mom to take me to the doctor so he can check it out." she admitted covering up parts of the story. He nodded not fully believing her story. He shut her door and started walking over to his side.

"Nate! Nate! Don't leave. We need to talk!" Brooke said running across the squad to stop him from leaving.

"what's up Brooke?" he asked walking towards her.

"Whatever Haley told you about her leg wasn't the whole truth. Julian told me everything, he was there when it happened. Carrie tripped her." Brooke said.

"So its not getting any better." he mused.

"No, it would seem its getting worse. We need to stop this before it gets out of hand." Brooke said.

" I know. I'm about sick of Carrie, we all are." Nathan said.

"I know. Everyone knows what's going on. We all want to help end this. Go drop Haley off at home, then come back here. We need to end this once and for all." she said.

"Alright. Thanks Brooke." he said.

"Don't thank me. I'm just defending my friend when she needs it. I know she's trying to be strong but she needs us right now and we're not going to let her down. She has so many people here that love her and we're going to stop Carrie now." Brooke said. Nathan nodded before turning and walking back to the truck.

"What did Brooke have to say?" Haley asked curiously.

"Not much, just reminding me of a party this weekend at her house." he answered.

"Oh." Haley said before lapsing into silence.

Once they arrived back at her house, Nathan walked her inside where her mom was sitting in the living room reading a book.

"Oh my, what happened?" she asked seeing Haley walk into the house being supported by Nathan.

"I had a little accident at school. Can you take me to the doctor just to make sure everything's okay?" she asked her mom.

"Of course." she said standing up. Haley kissed Nathan goodbye before letting her mom take her to the doctor.

Nathan arrived back at school and saw the group of people sitting with Brooke at the table. He walked over to them and took a seat.

"Hey." he said nodding to everyone at the table.

"I know this seems like a bit much, but all of us love Haley, we want to get her revenge on Carrie." Brooke explained. Nathan nodded and they all started planning.

The doctor looked at Haley's leg, and gave her an X ray before determining his course of action

"Haley, you'll be fine. You just have to use you're crutches again for a couple weeks and refrain from any physical activity." he instructed. Haley released the breath she was holding and smiled at the doctor. The doctor issued her another pair of crutches since she returned her other pair thinking she was done with them and she left the building. As they were driving home, they drove past the school and Haley seen the group of people sitting in their table. From afar she recognized Brooke and Nathan, along with all of their other friends.

"Mom can you stop, I want to see what they're up to." she said gesturing to the group.

"Of course." Lydia said pulling into the parking lot. Once they were stopped, Haley grabbed her crutches and climbed out of the car. She hobbled towards them and heard bits and pieces of their conversation.

"We can always make her into a social leper." Brooke suggested.

"I don't know. But for sure kick her off the squad. wasn't that you're initial threat?" Nathan asked.

"It was. That was a given. My cheerleaders don't assault my friends." she said. "What is this?" Haley asked growing closer.

"Haley, what are you doing here?" Nathan asked.

"I seen you guys and came to check out what you're doing. What is this? You better not be planning some sort of revenge for me." she said.

"Haley, you deserve revenge. She tripped you and you're back on the crutches now." he noted.

"I don't want it though. I just want to let it go." she said.

"It wont stop. We need to make it stop." he insisted.

"No you don't. None of you do. Most of you I don't blame, you havent been here for most of this. But Nathan you have been here, and I told you I didn't want a big deal made out of this. But you went ahead and did it anyway. I didn't want to cause a scene, but you guys are plotting to destroy her. I cant believe this. I have to go." she said turning around and walking back to where her mom was waiting. Nathan watched her leave, unable to believe that she didn't want anything to happen to her. Unable to believe that she just wanted it to end.

"I guess we don't do anything. Haley doesn't want it." he said.

"Alright. I'm still kicking her off the squad though." Brooke said.

"It's you're squad. At least something's happening. I've never seen her look so betrayed before." he said.

"You better go fix this then." Brooke said.

"How? How do I go tell her that I'm sorry but not really. How do I tell her that as much as I hate that we sprung this on her, that I wouldn't ever regret protecting her from danger?" he asked.

"I think you just did." Brooke said smiling slightly.

"Thanks Brooke." he said before getting up and walking back to his car, intent on making Haley talk to him one way or another.


	21. Chapter 21

Nathan parked outside Haley's house desperate to talk to her. He knew he shouldn't have sprung it on her, but yet he didn't regret it. He knew her parents weren't home. They had to leave that afternoon, as Haley's sister Vivian needed help moving. He also knew that Haley wouldn't want to miss class so he knew that she was home. Deciding that now was as good as time as any to man up and talk to her. He climbed out of the truck and walked up the front walk that he had walked up too many times to count in the past 14 years. He knocked on the door and waited for her to answer. When she did, she seen him and left the door open signalling that he should enter. He watched her walk with her crutches back to the couch and sit down.

"I need to talk to you." he said.

"I know. I seen you pull up 15 minutes ago. I was waiting for you to man up and come and explain what you were thinking." she said.

"I didn't know how to describe what I feel about this. I mean I'm sorry for springing it on you but I'm not sorry for defending you. She hurt you and me and all you're other friends thought that she should pay for that. I will not apologize for defending, that's something that I cant do. It's something that I wont do. I will not stand by and watch while someone hurts you. Especially not if its Carrie, because she has nothing on you. And the idea that I would ever be with her over you, is laughable. But like I said I don't know how to describe this to you, in a way that's honest and that you understand." he said.

"You just did." Haley said.

"What?" he said shocked.

"You just did. Nathan I'm not mad anymore. Yes I'm hurt that you went behind my back, but you did it because you cared. You had my best interests at heart and you did what you thought was right. And you're right, I have some of the best friends in the world. Friends that would do anything for me. But most of all I have you. That means everything, and I'm not willing to let some stupid argument ruin the way I feel for you. Because I love you Nathan. I always have." she said softly. He was sitting on the chair across from her, so she rose from the couch with the aid of her crutches and hobbled over to him, before sitting down on his lap.

"So am I forgiven?" he asked hopefully.

"You. Are. Forgiven." she said in between kisses. She punctuated the sentence with a passionate kiss that left them both breathless.

"Good. Now how about I treat you to dinner, since you're parents are gone." he said.

"That sounds perfect. Where are we going?" she asked.

"Well, I am the cheapest guy alive, so I figured that I would take you to my mom's café, and feed you for free." he said.

"How generous." she joked. He laughed at the expression on her face. He helped her to her feet and followed her out to his truck.

"How's your leg?" he asked.

"Sore. I wont be doing P.E for a while now. Whitey's gonna love that." Haley muttered.

"He likes you, so it'll be fine." Nathan assured her

"Yeah. Now I don't know if I want to ask, but what is going to happen to Carrie?" she asked.

"Brooke is kicking her off the squad. We're not going to do anything else unless you want us to." he promised.

"No. Don't do anything more. I just want it to be over with. However I do think that I want to rub it in her face that I have you and she doesn't." Haley said.

"That's my girl. You have me and she never will. Because you will always have me." he said honestly.

"Good. I don't ever want to lose you. You are the one constant in my life. You know, everything that has happened to me in the past, you've been there for all of it. Remember when we were 8 and my grandma died? You were there, and you held me while I cried. Then a few years later when my grandfather died, you held me then too. And more recently when I got shot, you were there yet again. You weren't there when I got shot, but you were there for all the tears and pain afterwards. You're still here for me." she said smiling softly at him.

"You've been there for me too baby. I mean, I wouldn't have been able to deal with anything Dan Scott if it weren't for you. My grandpa's death. You were there. You supported me with my dream for basketball." he said. She smiled at him, and laced her fingers through his. When they pulled up in front of the café, he parked and walked around her side to help her from the truck.

"Maybe I should trade my mom vehicles. You have a hard time getting out of the truck." he noted.

"It's fine Nathan. Besides if its easy to climb out of, what's to stop you from helping me down. It gives me a little extra time in you're arms. One place that I would willingly stay for the rest of time." she said smiling.

"Good point. Now lets go get you fed." he said holding the door open. They walked in to find Keith helping Karen tend tables.

"Hey. Busy today I see." Nathan said glancing at the almost fully packed café.

"Yeah. How's it going kids?" Keith asked, moving behind the counter.

"Pretty good. We're hungry so we're here for dinner." Nathan said, helping Haley climb onto a chair.

"I'll tell you're mom you're here. She's in the kitchen, helping with some orders until her second cook gets in." he said. Keith disappeared into the kitchen and came back a couple minutes later followed by Karen.

"Hey kids. What can I get you Nathan. I'm not asking Haley because after 14 years I know what she's gonna say." Karen said smiling warmly at the girl.

"Give me a burger and fries. Give me extra fries though, because as much as she says she's not going to. Haley will inevitably steal fries from my plate." he said smiling at his girlfriend.

"Done." Karen said disappearing into the kitchen again.

"So Keith, how's it going with my mom?" Nathan asked curiously.

"Really good Nate. Now I remember why I fell in love with her in the first place." Keith said.

"I'm happy you two are together Keith. I mean its about time." he said smiling at his uncle turned father figure.

"I'm happy too. It's about time for that too." Keith said glancing around the café to see if anyone needed attention.

Karen brought out their meal, and they ate eagerly. And as Nathan had predicted, halfway through her macaroni and cheese she started snatching fries from Nathan's plate. He watched her from the corner of his eye, with a smile on his face. He didn't understand it all the time, but no matter how crappy his day had been, the minute he seen her face or heard her voice a smile would break out on his face. Ever since he and Haley had started dating, he had turned into a smiling fool and he wouldn't change it for the world. Keith stopped in front of them a few minutes later. "Hey Nate, do you think you could stop by the shop later on. I need you're help with something." he said.

"Sure. What time?" he asked.

"Whenever. I'm heading there right now, so anytime in the next couple hours." he said.

"Ok. I'll just take Haley home after we're done here, then I'll drop by." he said.

"Perfect. I'll see you later Nate. Bye Haley. Bye Karen I'll see you tonight." he said before exiting.

"On that note, I am staying with Haley tonight mom. I don't want to hear anything coming from you're bedroom tonight." he said.

"Keith has been staying at the house for the past several weeks Nate. You're just using that as an excuse to spend the night with Haley." Karen said.

"You got me. I would much rather spend the night with my amazing girlfriend than alone in my room dreaming about my amazing girlfriend." he said. Once they were done, Nathan drove Haley home and walked her to her door.

"I'll be back soon. I just have to help Keith." he said kissing her softly. When he heard her lock the door behind him, he walked back to his truck and drove the short distance to Keith Scott Body Shop.

When he arrived, Keith was sitting behind the counter.

"Hey Keith. What do you need?" he asked.

"Oh hey Nate. Thanks for coming." he said.

"It's fine. What do you need?" he asked again, loving spending time with his uncle in the shop.

"I just needed to ask you something. Now keep in mind that there's no wrong answer here, just be honest. What would you think if I asked you're mom to marry me?" he asked nervously.

"You want to marry my mom?" he asked to ensure he heard correctly.

"Yes. I love her and I have for years. What do you think Nate?" he asked.

"Yes. That would be awesome. I have imagined for years what it would be like if you and mom got married." Nathan enthused.

"That's great Nate. And one other thing. Now keep in mind I havent talked to your mom about this at all yet. But I want to know what you think. What would you think if I told you I wanted to adopt you?" he asked nervously.

"You want to be my dad?" he asked.

"Yes, I mean regardless you've always been like my son, but I want to make it more official. I've always thought of you as my son. But if you don't see it that way then that's fine it wont change anything I promise." he said.

"I've always thought that you're my dad Keith. I always have and I always will. I would love to be your son on an official basis. But now since we're having a father son moment I need to talk to you about something." he said.

"You can tell me anything Nathan, you know that." he assured him.

"I know. I just want to know if its odd what I've been feeling. I'm 17 years old, I shouldn't be this is way. The past few weeks, ever since the school shooting in fact when I almost lost Haley, I've been thinking about marriage. The more I think about it, the more I want it." he said.

"You want to marry Haley?" Keith said.

"Yes. Ever since she got shot and I almost lost her. That day I realized that I cant live without her and I don't want to. I'm only 17 and I'm thinking about getting married." he said.

"Wow. Just so you know the night of Dan's birthday party a while back. I seen the way you were together, and I told your mom that I wouldn't be surprised if we heard a wedding announcement soon from the two of you. I can see the way you feel about her in you're eyes. Can I tell you a secret Nate?" Keith said.

"Sure." Nathan answered.

"When I was 17, I wanted to marry you're mom too. I was so in love with her, and I still am today. I lost so many of those years not telling her how I felt. No matter what happens now, you and Haley will be okay. Just remember getting married at 17 will be hard, you have school and college and other important things. If its meant to be it will still be later. And I think you and Haley are meant to be." Keith assured him.

"So its not weird the way I feel about her?" he clarified.

"No. It's rare but not weird. It's rare to be as lucky as you and Haley. Most people go their entire lives without finding that special someone who completes them. You found yours at the age of two in your moms café. No one is that lucky." Keith said smiling.

"But what if its not? What if its not what we think it is?" Nathan asked.

"It is. Don't worry about that Nate. Looking ahead ten years I see you and Haley married and maybe a kid of two on the way. You and Haley will be together forever." Keith assured him.

"Thanks Keith. But I should probably get back to Haley. I don't like leaving her alone, especially when she's not healthy." he said.

"Alright. Have a good night Nathan." he said following Nathan to the door.

"You too. So are you going to ask her?" Nathan asked.

"I think I might." he said smiling. Nathan nodded happily and walked to his car. It seemed like his life was finally coming together. And he couldn't be happier.

When he arrived back at Haley's he seen the living room lights on. He knocked on the door a couple times before Haley answered.

"Hey, what did Keith need?" she asked when he got in the house.

"he wanted to ask my approval for him to ask my mom to marry him. Him and my mom might be getting married, and I couldn't be happier." Nathan said smiling broadly.

"That's great." Haley said smiling and throwing her arms around his neck.

"I know. So how what do you want to do tonight?" he asked.

"I want some ice cream, a nice book, a warm blanket and a foot massage." she said.

"Those are pretty steep demands. What do I get in return for all those things?" he asked. "I'll let you sleep in my bed tonight." she said.

"Sold. Let me go get the ice cream and you're book." he said as she pulled the warm, fuzzy blanket off the back of the couch. He returned a few minutes later with a tub of cookie dough ice cream and two spoons.

"When do you want the massage?" he asked.

"After I'm done eating the ice cream. Because I'm gonna be nice and share it with you." she said.

"Arent you kind?" he said rhetorically.

"I know. I'm a Saint." she said jokingly. He laughed before spooning a scoop of ice cream into his mouth. She took a much smaller spoonful and ate it slowly.

"You suck at eating ice cream, you know that?" he said watching her.

"Why is that?" she asked curiously.

"You are supposed to take a huge bite and swallow it whole." he said punctuating his instructions with a demonstration.

"Oh no, I don't like brain freezes." she noted.

"Come on I have never gotten a brain freeze before." he said before suddenly grasping his forehead and wincing. "Brain freeze?" she asked chuckling.

"Shut up. You jinxed me." he pouted, still clutching his forehead.

"Aw poor baby." she said leaning back and turning her head to catch his pouty bottom lip between hers. He kissed her back eagerly, the ice cream having been forgotten. Their limbs tangled and lips devoured one another. After a couple minutes of kissing Haley pulled away unable to breathe.

"How about that massage?" she asked not wanting to get carried away.

"Of course." he said get off the couch from behind her so he could sit on the other side of the couch and put her feet in his lap. Before sitting down he ran upstairs to grab the massage oil from the bathroom and squirted some into his hand. He rubbed his hands together trying to warm the oil. He started rubbing it into her foot and her head rolled back in pleasure.

"That feels so good." she moaned.

"You're moaning like that because of a foot massage. I cant wait to see what it'll be like when we finally have sex." he said.

"I bet. But honestly this feels heavenly." she grinned at him.

"I know. I'm talented like that." he said. She laughed.

"Is there anything you cant do?" she asked.

"No. Not that I can think of." he answered pretending to think about it.

"With an ego like that…" she trailed off. When he finished off her massage he wiped his hands on a towel and turned to face Haley.

"Now what do you want to do?" she asked.

"I'm kinda tired. And we have school in the morning. We should get to bed." she said.

"I cant believe that my mom let me sleep here on a school night." Nathan said amazed.

"I know. But lets get to bed. I'm tired." she said allowing him to pull her up from the couch.

"Want me to carry you?" he asked when they got to the foot of the stairs.

"That would be amazing thank you." she said letting him pick her up effortlessly.

When they were in her bedroom, she went to her dresser and grabbed her pyjama's before hobbling into the bathroom to change. While she was in the bathroom, Nathan turned down the bed and climbed in still wearing his jeans and t shirt. Haley came out in a pair of flannel sleep shorts and a tank top. She seen Nathan laying in the bed and she smiled placing her crutches against the wall she hobbled the rest of the way and collapsed onto the bed. Nathan opened his arms for her and she slid into his embrace.

"are you sleeping in you're jeans?" she asked.

"Yeah. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable." he admitted.

"What do you usually sleep in?" she asked.

"Usually my boxers." he said.

"You're not making me uncomfortable. In fact the only thing making me uncomfortable right now is you're jeans. The material is too rough to be this close to. If you're wearing those to sleep tonight I am sleeping on the my side of the bed and not touching you at all." she said.

"That eager to get me out of my clothes huh?" he asked.

"No. I just want you and I to both be comfortable tonight." Haley said. He smiled at her and stood up so he could pull his jeans off. He tossed them onto a chair in the corner of the room, before pulling his t shirt off as well, before climbing back into the bed. He opened his arms for her again as she slid back into place.

"That's better isn't it?" she asked.

"Much. Now lets get some sleep." he said.

"Yeah. Good idea." she said shutting off the lamp on the beside table.


	22. Chapter 22

sorry about that short chapter. it ended up being shorter than i wanted, but it got me where i needed it to go. please review, i love hearing what you guys think. it really motivates me to write more. even if its just to say good chapter. the reviews motivate me and i get the chapter out much quicker. thank you to those of you who review each chapter, i really appreciate it. you know who you are. thank you. please read and review, let me know what you think. :)

PS i own nothing

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When Nathan walked into his house the next morning he saw Keith and his mom sitting at the table talking.

"Hey Nate, can you come in here for a minute?" Keith called.

"Sure. Hey mom. Keith." he said taking a seat at the table.

"Hey I just thought that you should be here for this." Keith said nervously. Nathan smiled knowing what was about to happen. He had really hoped that Haley could be here for this, but at the same time he was looking forward to being the only on in on this when it happened. Besides he was looking forward to sharing it with Haley afterwards.

"Now Karen, you know I love you. And I have for years, ever since the moment I first saw you on the arm of my brother. That love has been buried, it has been hidden and it has been ignored, but never has it wavered. I still love you like I did all those years ago. In fact I think I love you more now. It took the urging from a very special person for me to get the strength to do this." he said getting up and walking around to Karen's side of the table and kneeling in front of her

"Keith what are you doing?" she asked in shock.

"something I have wanted to do since the moment I met you. Karen Roe will you marry me?" he asked pulling out a velvet box from his pocket. He opened the box to show a beautiful ands simple diamond ring.

"Yes. Yes Keith Scott I will marry you." she said with tears rolling down her face. Nathan couldn't help it but a huge smile broke out on his face and even a single tear rolled down. His dream family was finally coming true.

"Keith?" Nathan asked not wanting to disturb the tender moment between the two adults.

"Yes." Keith asked hopefully.

"Thank you." he said simply.

"For what?" he asked curiously.

"For so many things. For being here for my mom. For being here for me. For being my dad most of all. For giving me a family. Thank you for being my dad for all these years. Especially when you didn't have to." he said.

"Thank you for letting me." he said standing up and hugging Nathan. Karen stood by and watched the two most important people in her life hug.

"I'm gonna head over to Haley's. let you guys be alone for a little while. I'll see you later mom, and dad." he said. Keith grinned at Karen as Nathan left the house. "He called me dad." he said emotionally.

"You've always been his father." she said.

"Yeah, but its going to be official now. I know I should have talked to you first, but I asked him and he was for it. I'm going to adopt him, he's going to be my son on an official basis." he said happily.

"That's wonderful. I had always hoped that would happen, but I never knew how to approach him about it." she said smiling with tears rolling down her face.

Nathan walked the short distance to Haley's house and used the key located under the flower pot.

"Hales?" he called.

"Hey I thought you went home." she said.

"I did now I'm back." he said happily.

"Why are you so happy?" she asked seeing the look of pure happiness on his face.

"My mom and Keith are engaged." he said.

"Really?" she asked happily.

"Really. He proposed this morning. I was there for it. Keith wanted me there for it. Finally after 16 years of living as the unwanted son of Dan Scott, I have a father. A real father. Dan has nothing over me now." he said happily.

"I'm so happy. In fact let me take you out. My treat. You drive since I cant, and I'll buy you lunch somewhere that's not your moms café. I want to actually buy you food." she said.

"Awesome. Today is the best day ever." he said grinning. He held his hand out for Haley to take to pull her from the couch.

"Lets go." he said.

"Wait a second. There's something I want to do first." she said.

"Okay." he said staring into her eyes. She stretched up onto her tip toes and kissed him tenderly. His arms banded around her waist as he held her tightly to him as they kissed languidly.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"I wanted to kiss you, and because your mom and Keith got engaged and I love seeing you so happy." she said.

"I love you Hales." he told her honestly.

"I love you too. Always." she said smiling at him.

"And forever. Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Definitely. I am hungry." she said rubbing her stomach.

"Good, we better get you fed." he said grinning.

He drove them to the river walk restaurant and got them a table. The first hint of a frown appeared on his face when he saw Dan and Deb seated across from them.

"Maybe if we ignore them, they wont notice us." Nathan said quietly.

"Shhh, Dan's an ass, but Deb isn't so bad." Haley defended the woman.

"That's true. But I really don't want Dan to ruin my perfect day. He has the knack of knowing when life is going good and then working his magic to destroy it all." he said.

"Don't let him. Lets just enjoy lunch." she said.

"Good plan." he said turning his chair slightly so he hopefully wouldn't be noticed by Dan. They ordered their food, Nathan a burger and fries, Haley macaroni and cheese.

"Don't you ever get tired of mac and cheese?" Nathan asked laughing at Haley's choice of food.

"No. do you ever tire of prime rib?" she retaliated.

"No. but I'm not eating it for lunch am I?" he asked. "I guess not." she acquiesced.

"Uh huh." he said, triumphantly.

Dan and Deb were sitting trying to have lunch. A last ditch effort to repair their marriage. Deb was sick of the way Dan berated Lucas all the time. She didn't know how much more Lucas could take before he just snapped. It was coming, she knew it. And she knew if Lucas snapped, she would rarely if ever see him. She could see him just leaving the family. He was old enough by law. And she couldn't stand it if her son left her because of his father being an ass. She glanced up and saw Nathan sitting at the table laughing with Haley. Now that was the picture of a happy teenage boy. She could see why. For one he was in love, and for two Dan Scott wasn't in his life. Never in her life would she have imagined Nathan to be the lucky one, growing up in a one parent household. Unthinkingly she spoke up.

"Dan isn't that Nathan sitting over there?" she asked. Dan looked beside them and saw his younger son.

"So it is." he said.

"Dan leave them alone, you've already screwed up one sons life." she said.

"You said anything about screwing up his life. I just want to talk with him for a minute." he said standing up and walking over to the table.

Nathan looked up and sighed audibly when he saw Dan approaching.

"Damn it." he muttered, causing Haley to look up seeing Dan. She reached across and took Nathan's hands in hers hoping to keep him calm.

"Hello Nathan. Hades." he greeted the two teens.

"It's Haley." Nathan said slowly, as if explaining something to a child.

"Whatever. I was just wondering if you've seen my deadbeat of a brother lately. He owes me money and I don't like to be kept waiting." he said.

"Keith isn't the deadbeat in the family." Nathan said loyally.

"Oh? How do you figure?" he asked.

"He may not have the money and celebrity you have. But he does have family and people that actually love him rather than people to pretend to like him like you have. Which makes you the deadbeat." he said.

"Ha. And who exactly loves my dear brother. Our parents prefer me to him, and so does everyone else. Even your mother picked me first." he said.

"She may have picked you first but she chose Keith to spend the rest of her life with. Their getting married Dan." he said. "Really?" Dan said.

"Yeah. And know what else. Keith is adopting me. I am going to be Keith's son, despite what science or papers say. Keith is gonna be my dad, he claimed me in a way you never did." he said happily.

"And what kind of life can Keith give you?" he asked sneeringly.

"A good one." Nathan said closing the subject. Their food arrived and they began to eat, ignoring Dan. Dan returned to his table angrily.

"I'm so proud of you. You remained calm when talking with him." she said grinning at her boyfriend.

"It was only because you were here. If you hadn't been there, I would have snapped at him." he admitted.

"But you didn't. that's all that matters." she insisted.

Dan angrily sat back down.

"What's wrong Dan?" Deb asked wearily.

"Keith stole Karen from me. She's mine. And the son of a bitch is adopting my son." he said.

"You gave up on both Karen and Nathan.. So therefore, they are no longer any of your concern. Nathan has won the jackpot. He is going to have an amazing mother and an amazing father. He always has in Keith." Deb said. Dan scowled at the thought of taking over the life that he wanted. The life that he thought he deserved. It was official. Dan Scott hated his brother more than he ever did before. Because now Keith stole something from Dan that he couldn't get back. According to Dan, Keith was dead to him.


	23. Chapter 23

hope you enjoy it. i probably wont have another chapter posted for quite a while because we are in the process of moving and i we dont have internet in the new house yet and wont for quite a while. so i'll update if i happen to find a internet signal somewhere. i apologize ahead of time for the delay of the next chapter, i know i promised i wouldnt do that anymore. Let me know what you think, i love hearing what you have to say.

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"So when's the wedding?" Haley asked Karen as they worked side by side in the café after school, Haley hobbling around on her crutches.

"This summer. Its just going to be us and people we really care about. We were thinking a couple weeks after school ends, so we have time for a honeymoon before Nathan goes back to school. I've never missed Nathan's first day of school since he's been in school. I'm not starting now." she said.

"You do realize that school is out in 3 weeks right? Finals are coming up." Haley said.

"I know. Which is why I gave you the two weeks before finals off, because I know how you are with studying and such. Which reminds me, is my son studying?" she asked.

"Yes, he is spending today studying for math. I told him he had to or else." Haley said.

"Or else is good." Karen noted smiling. Haley grinned and returned to work.

Nathan sat in his room wrestling with math. He could feel his temper rising, he didn't understand it and he didn't think he ever would. And he didn't want to ask Haley for help. He was Nathan Scott. He could conquer something as stupid as math. He was already in a bad mood as it was, but the math was making it worse. First, his truck chose today to die on him. So it was currently at Keith's shop getting fixed. Then there was Dan Scott. Dan Scott had a way of picking up on every frustration or annoyance in Nathan's life and blow it out of proportion. Along with everything else, he was stressed out because of finals. He needed to do good on them or else he would be ineligible to play basketball, and basketball was the one thing in this world that he couldn't live without. Besides Haley that is. So trying to block everything else out of his mind, he tried his best to focus on the task at hand. Math.

Brooke Davis was laying across her bed bored. She knew there were several people she could call and hang out with. She was Brooke Davis. Everyone wanted to hang out with Brooke Davis. All perks of being the most popular girl in school. But for whatever reason, none of those people really interested her at all today. Instead the person she was interested with, didn't even really know she existed. Sure they talked a couple times, but it was mostly about Haley and trying to get revenge for Haley. Ever since she first seen him, she could stop thinking about him. This was unlike Brooke, Brooke didn't chase boys, boys chased her. No matter what she did, she couldn't take her mind off of the curly brown haired boy. The mathlete. The nerd. A guy that Brooke Davis wouldn't normally give a second glance to. Coming to a conclusion, Brooke hopped off her bed and fixed her clothes and hair before rushing out of her room and out of the house.

Julian Baker was sitting in his living room with his mom watching TV. Although he wasn't really paying attention.

"Julian, is everything okay?" his mom asked.

"Oh yeah. Everything is great." he said realizing he must have been lost in thought. All this thoughts recently were centred around one person. One girl. Brooke Davis. He was resigned to admiring from afar, because under no circumstances would the most popular girl in school ever date a mathlete. It was unheard of. The only interaction they ever had was when they were helping Haley. And that was probably how it would stay. Julian sighed and turned his attention back to the TV. Obsessing over Brooke Davis was becoming a dangerous habit, one he would have to try to break before it became too controlling.

Brooke drove until she found the house. Taking a deep breath she climbed out of her car and slowly walked up the front walk. Taking another deep breath she knocked on the door.

"Hello." Julian's mom said.

"Oh hi. Does Julian Baker live here?" Brooke asked politely.

"Yes. I'll get him for you." she said before disappearing around the corner. Brooke relaxed slightly until Julian appeared.

"Brooke? What are you doing here?" he asked shocked to see her at his door.

"I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out with me." she said smiling.

"Really? You want to hang out with me? The head cheerleader is not supposed to hang out with a mathlete. Are you sure?" he asked shocked.

"Yeah. Why don't we hang out Julian." Brooke said holding out her hand for him to take.

"Mom, I'm going out. I'll be home later." Julian called into the house. He took Brooke's hand deciding to take this opportunity because it was unlikely to ever come his way again.

Before going home, Haley opted to stop by Nathan's to check on him. She knew he was studying today and she knew he hated it. She walked through the front door of the familiar house and made her way back to Nathan's room. She opened the door and seen him surrounded with books on his bed and a perplexed expression on his face.

"Hey. How's it going?" she asked moving into the room.

"Like hell. I hate this, why the hell do we need to know crap for?" he asked frustrated.

"They just want us to know it I guess. Why don't you take a break." she suggested.

"I cant just take a break Haley. Unlike you I have to study. I am at risk for failing and if I fail I'm behind a year, and on top of that I become ineligible to play basketball." he said frustrated.

"Okay. Just relax okay." she suggested.

"That's easy for you to say. You could go into the fricking test without studying once and still get a good mark on it. Or you could completely fail the test and still pass the course. I don't have that luxury Haley. It's easy for you. If I don't pass I cant play basketball and if I don't play basketball then I don't go to college. Everything is easier for you." he said angrily.

"Okay then. Just calm down. Let me help you." she said kindly, trying to ignore the pain she felt from how he was talking to her.

"I don't want your help. I can do this on my own. I don't need your pity, I can do this on my own. And I definitely don't need the tutoring. I can do it on my own. I'm really busy right now, and I don't need you distracting me." he said.

"I'm distracting you? Well if I'm such a distraction then maybe I'll just leave." she said turning around and using her crutches to escape the room. Once she was out of his room, she walked towards the front door and slammed it on her way out.

"ass." she muttered before walking the short distance to her house.

Nathan heard the door slam, and he winced. He realized how much of an ass he was to her and she didn't deserve it. She just wanted to help him.

"Damn it." he said as he closed his book and picked up his cell phone from his bedside table. He dialled the familiar number and waited for her to pick up. When she didn't he sighed and climbed off his bed careful not to disrupt any of the books laid around his bed. She could ignore him via phone but she couldn't ignore him if he was talking to her in person. He walked the short distance to her house and walked right in the front door. Not seeing her in the living room or in the kitchen he walked up the stairs and opened her bedroom door. He seen her sitting on her bed with her leg propped up reading a book.

"Hales…" he started.

"I don't want you here. Why don't you just leave." she suggested pointing to her door, not even looking up to see him.

"I'm not leaving." he said firmly.

"Oh so your not finished being an ass then? You have more? Fine give it to me." she said angrily.

"Calm down Haley. I'm here arent I?" he asked.

"Calm down. I remember telling you that same thing a few minutes ago and look where it got me. So forgive me if the words calm down, mean nothing to me now. You're an ass." she said still not turning to look at him.

"I know. And I shouldn't have been. I know you just wanted to help me and I love you for that." he said quietly.

"You're right, you shouldn't have been." Haley said.

"Will you let me take you out for lunch or something. Anything to make it up to you. Hell, I'll even let you help me study or do anything else you want to do. I'm so sorry for being a dick to you." he said stepping closer to her bed. She was looking at him now, instead of at her book which in Nathan's mind was a good thing.

"I know you're stressed out Nathan. And I know Dan causes you some grief. So because of that I am going to forgive you." she said getting off that bed and walking over to him. He smiled at her before opening his arms for her to walk into. She nestled her head into his chest and rested there.

"So what do you want to do? My treat." he asked.

"I want to go to our spot and watch chick flicks." she answered.

"Ahh, the things I do for the woman I love." he said wrapping his arm around her shoulder as they walked

out of the room.

So tell me something about you Julian." Brooke said as they were seated side by side on the swings in the park.

"My name is Julian Baker." he said.

"Something I don't already know." she said smiling.

" I'm a mathlete." he said.

"I know that already." she said.

"Alright. I grew up in LA, but my parents got divorced and my mom moved here. My dad is the head of a studio and my mom is a drinker. We're here trying to start over. Now tell me something I don't know about you." Julian told her.

"Alright. I've more or less raised myself. My mom cared more about herself than me and left me and her credit card alone a lot. Because of that upbringing I grew into a not so good version of myself. But I think I'm slowly coming back. Something else you don't know about me, um I like you. I mean I really like you and it scares me a little bit, mainly because we barely know each other and have only spoken a couple times ever. But something you don't know about me, is I like you a lot Julian Baker." Brooke said nervously.

"You like me?" he asked in shock.

"I do. I really like you. I like you enough to ask you this. Will you go out for dinner with me Julian Baker?" she asked.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" he asked.

" I guess I am." Brooke said laughing.

"Then it's a date." he said smiling.


	24. Chapter 24

It has been forever since I wrote this story. I do plan on finishing all my Naley stories at some point. But I am firmly ensconced in the world of Vampire Diaries at the moment. I'm not sure how many chapters this has left, more than five but less than ten. I hope you enjoy this, and I'm not sure when I'll have another one out, but it wont be as long of a wait. Sorry again for the hiatus. Thank you to Naley12, who PM'ed me and asked me to update something Naley. You have her to thank for this chapter.

* * *

"I can't believe you're notebooking me for the zillionth time." he groaned as they sat side by side on the rooftop.

"This is your fault. You're the one who is begging for forgiveness for being a jerk." she laughed.

"But you could have some mercy. I think by this point I know most of this movie by heart. I could probably recite it word for word." he said seriously.

"Hmmm, no. I don't want to." she laughed. She had her leg propped up on the bench in front of them and he was holding her hand tightly in hers.

"Why are you so mean to me?" he whined.

"Because you are you. Anyone would be mean to you." she said.

"True. Look at Lucas, he was mean to me for years. But even he learned to accept my awesomeness." he said smirking. She laughed and leaned over to kiss him softly

"Why do I like you? Your ego is astounding." she laughed and laid her head on his shoulder.

"Because I am hot. And because you love the witty jackass comments I make." he said kissing her on the cheek.

"Do you guys need anything before I head out?" Karen asked coming onto the rooftop.

"We're fine mom." Nathan said smiling at his mom.

"How is the studying going?" she asked.

"It's not. I give up." he said frowning.

"Do not give up Nathan. School is important. Let Haley help you." she insisted.

"I will mom. I will accept the tutoring she so willingly offers me." he said trying to placate his mom.

"You better. I'm spending the night at Keith's, but the usual rules still apply. Come home by curfew. And make sure Haley gets home safe." she instructed.

"Have fun with Keith." he said.

"We're working on wedding plans." she said happily.

"When I say have fun mom, please don't take that too seriously. I don't want a baby brother or sister." he said firmly.

"You wont. Don't worry about that. I am not having another child out of wedlock and I will not be fat on my wedding day." she said firmly.

"Good. Have a good night mom." he said. Karen smiled at her son and left the rooftop shutting the door behind him.

"No back to the Notebook." Haley said happily.

"Wait! Mom take me with you." Nathan wailed after his mom who was gone.

Brooke sat across from Julian down at the restaurant down by the river. Almost everything in Tree Hill was down by the river and Brooke loved her little town. It was quaint and quiet, and apparently it was good enough to bring someone like Julian Baker to it. If the town was good enough for Julian Baker, it was good enough for her. Julian was one of the best people she had ever met, he was simply amazing. She felt tongue tied around him and she wasn't her usual flirty self. He completely changed her and most would say it was for the best.

"What's on your mind?" Julian asked, seeing her lost in thought.

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking." she said snapping out of her reverie.

"About what?" he asked kindly. With most people that question would sound probing, but with him he sounded fascinated and concerned. He didn't want to know what was going through her mind for personal gain, he just wanted to know. He cared.

"Honestly, I was thinking that maybe if this little town is good enough for you, it must be good enough for me." she admitted, blushing a light red colour for the first time in her teenage years. She had never been embarrassed in front of a boy before, and if she had , she hid it well. Everything was different with Julian. He was a breath of fresh air to her world. He was amazing.

"What do you mean?" he asked confused. His brow furrowed and he had a light confused frown on his face.

"Sorry. All I meant, was that I have always dreamed about escaping this town. To run somewhere exotic, or somewhere like New York or LA. Somewhere more Brooke Davis-ish. But then you came here, and you seem to like it. You are amazing, more amazing than me. So I figure maybe if this town is good enough for you, it should be good enough for me too." she explained.

"Oh. You really think that highly of me?" he asked, shocked about that transparent feelings his girl seemed to have for him.

"I do. I really like you Julian Baker." she said unsure of how to pursue the guy rather than the other way around.

"Wow." he said completely flustered by her words. He had immediately thought that she was just being nice, but apparently she truly believed what she said. She liked him, he had assumed she only spent time with him because of his friendship with Haley. But here Brooke Davis was, spending time with him Julian Baker on her own terms.

"Can you tell me more about yourself?" she asked him hopefully. She wanted to know everything about Julian Baker. He intrigued her and he understood her. He was truly one in a million.

"Sure. You already know I'm a mathlete. I suck at sports. I was in baseball when I was younger, and I literally spent the entire game chasing butterflies in the field. Sports never grew on me. I was more into books and other stuff. I was never the cool guy and I probably never will be. And honestly I never want to be. I like who I am. I think that's important, liking who you are. Having confidence in what you can do, and who you are." he said staring at her the entire time he spoke.

"Why did you become a mathlete?" she asked, always having wondered.

"Because I was always good at math. But I think I became a mathlete because it gave me some security. Something I could depend on. Math doesn't change, it stays the same. When my dad left, I was devastated and I thought my life would never be the same again. That's why I wanted to do something that didn't change. Something that would never change." he explained, hoping that made sense.

"I just wish my family life would change. I wish my parents would just admit defeat and get divorced. They don't even like each other anymore, and I don't think they've ever loved each other. But both of them are terrible parents so maybe keeping things the same as they are is best. At least they make sure I never go without." she noted.

"I guess so. I guess there is no half way. You either have divorced parents, or parents that despise each other." he noted sadly.

"Not necessarily. Haley's parents are happily in love, and Nathan's mom and his uncle Keith are getting married. They both have two good parental figures that are happy together." Brooke defended.

"That's amazing for them. I guess it sometimes works out. Why don't you tell me something about yourself now?" he asked changing the subject.

"One more question first. Did you really chase butterflies when you were playing baseball?" she asked remembering what she had heard him say.

"Yes I did." he laughed. She laughed with him trying desperately to picture it.

"Needless to say after that I gave up on the entire institution of sports." he said.

"Good for you. You are probably safer sitting with the mathletes." she joked.

"Oh no, I am. Don't joke about that. You haven't seen me in gym. I've hurt so many people in the past few classes. I need to see if I can get out of that class. Perks of joining the school late in the year." he said.

"You cant be that bad. Maybe you need to work on basketball with Nathan. If he can teach Haley to play basketball he can teach you. Then maybe you wont completely fail the entire year." Brooke suggested.

"He taught Haley to play basketball?" he asked shocked. As far as he knew Haley was just as bad at sports as he was.

"Yes and she can actually make a basket now. It's very impressive." Brooke said giggling. Julian laughed with her as they enjoyed their dinner together.

Haley laid across Nathan's bed as she tried to explain trigonometry to him. He was struggling severely and she was patient.

"Your patience is incredible Hales." he said.

"It's the perks of being a tutor for so long." she said to him as he got a question right on his own. "Great job." she enthused.

"Thanks. You make everything so easy." he said smiling at her.

"Do you think you can do it alone now. I should get home." she said sitting up.

"Yeah. I'll walk you home." he said getting up and offering her his hand.

"Okay. Call me if you need anything." she said taking his hand. He walked her to her house and kissed her goodnight at the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow." he told her.

"I'll be here waiting for you in the morning. Without you I have no way to school." she said smiling.

Brooke drove Julian home as they walked the entire way.

"This was kind of a backwards first date." he noted as they drove

"Maybe so. But I enjoyed it just the same." she assured him.

"Next time I will ask you out, and I will borrow my moms car so I can pick you up. And drop you off at home." he told her.

"I look forward to it." she said. She pulled up to the curb at his house and he opened the door. "Aren't you going to kiss me goodnight?" she asked hopefully.  
"Would you like me to?" he asked.

"Yes." she answered. He leaned in and kissed her softly before pulling away.

"Good night." he whispered.

"Good night." she whispered back breathlessly. The kiss was so tender, and so soft. So simple but the things it did to her heart rate were anything but. Her heart picked up its pace and she couldn't breath. She sat there until he walked inside and shut the door, before she made the slow drive back to her house.


End file.
